


The Event Horizon

by LapsedPacifist



Category: The Night's Dawn Series - Peter F. Hamilton, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura and Shiro are Siblings, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Conspiracy, Gen, M/M, Space Battles, Space Pirates, Spaceships, space everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-01-29 08:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12626784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LapsedPacifist/pseuds/LapsedPacifist
Summary: Keith - a wanted fugitive with a not so great pastShiro - an army officer with a secret agenda of his ownTheir first meeting - a complete disasterAnd yet, they remain together, traveling the galaxy, fighting evil, and maybe even falling in love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am apparently absolutely obsessed with AUs. To be specific, sci-fi AUs.  
> This one uses almost no plot from the trilogy, and also no plot from Voltron. It _does_ use Voltron characters and Night's Dawn universe (and some more or less minor characters) though.  
>  I will admit it's been awhile since I've last read the books, and I've only been skimming through the Confederation Handbook, so I might (probably) have got a few things wrong. But never mind all that!  
> Please don't kill me when you see all the liberties that I have taken with the 'facts' and 'building blocks' of the said Night's Dawn universe (even the fact that I've put those words in parenthesis is probably a warning all by itself)  
> They might seem a little bit ooc, because of the completely different history
> 
> Eden and Valisk are two living habitats, space settlements for humans that were grown, not built.

“Since when am I the reckless one? You are the starship captain here!”

“And which one of us _voluntarily_ joined the CNIS?”

Shiro sighed, and dropping his head into his hands, mumbled: “So you called me just to complain about that, huh.”

The hologram of Allura in front of him nodded emphatically, which he completely missed because he was not looking at her. No, he wasn’t.

“Takashi, you know how dangerous this is,” she chided him, like he was a small child. “We are worried for you.”

 _“We?”_ he lifted his head, inquiring.

“Uncle Coran has expressed his… desire for your resignation,” she slowly said.

“I can’t resign, I’ve only just signed up! Besides, this is a bit like back when you signed up for your second tour and nobody was too happy about that either, right? And what did you say then?” He tried to imitate her voice: _“You are my family, and I appreciate you all very much, but I am my own person, and I make my own choices. It matters not how they play out.”_

“I do not speak like that!” Allura squeaked, all indignant. “And it’s not the same! As a starship captain I will _always_ be in some sort of a danger, and this is not a thing I can walk away from. You, on the other hand…” she trailed off, pointedly looking at him.

He rolled his eyes: “Yeah, yeah, I get it, _Caharian_ can’t function without you, you are its bonded captain and it will suffer without you. I know! You’ve told me this a thousand times. Now, sister dear, please also accept my decision. Ever since I followed _your_ footsteps and joined the Confederation Navy, you were worried about me, but have never tried to stop me before. So what changed?”

“This isn’t just _normal_ Confederation Navy we’re talking about! You’re thinking about becoming a spy!”

“A spy? Sister, what is it with you? This is simple intelligence work, that’s why it is called the Confederation Navy Intelligence Service,” he sighed. “Now will you please tell me what’s _actually_ worrying you?”

 _“Don’t go where I can’t follow,”_ she then whispered, sounding small and weak, which was extremely rare for her, and only added to his worry.

He froze for a second, and then gave her a tiny, sad smile. “Don’t worry, I am coming back,” he said, trying to sound confident and sure, for her sake.

“I will be holding you to that, Takashi, and don’t you forget it!” she fired back, adding: “And if you get lost, I will come looking for you, I swear it.”

“Don’t worry, I believe you,” he said, this time smiling for real. “There’s nothing in this galaxy that could stop you.”

She was still smiling when he ended the call.

* * *

 

_10 years ago, Eden_

 

“Takashi! You are finally here!” Allura shouted, jumping up to hug him. She was now a few centimeters shorter than him, which irritated her to no end.

He smiled at her: “Yep, it took me a while, but I finally made it.” Then he looked around the ship’s interior, and asked: “So, this is the famous _Caharian?_ ”

“And isn’t it beautiful? Quick, use your affinity to talk to it,” she nudged him.

He reached out with his mind, feeling the energy and consciousness all around him, and tentatively said **Hello?** ,not really knowing what to expect.

Suddenly, an unknown voice boomed in his mind: **Hello, Takashi Shirogane. I am** **_Caharian,_ ** **and I’ve heard much about you.** The voice was pleasant, full of power that the ship possessed, and was currently thrumming through its patterning cells all around them..

 **You shouldn’t believe everything my sister says,** he said.

 **Ah, but why would she lie to me, when I watched her grow up every step of the way? Don’t worry, Takashi, most things were nice,** _Caharian_ assured him.

 **That’s… good, I guess?** He risked a glance in her direction. She was glaring at him. He gave her a sheepish smile. She glared harder.

 **Well, I hope you’ll take good care of her,** he said.

Allura glared even harder, then finally intruded into the conversation: **Are you seriously worried about me, dear brother? You know that I am more than capable throwing you over my shoulder, right now, _right_?**

 **I have seen that manoeuvre many times and have greatly enjoyed it each and every single one,** added _Caharian_.

 **That’s not very nice,** half-heatedly protested Shiro; **You shouldn’t encourage her to beat up people. She’s already bloodthirsty enough.**

 **Takashi!** Allura chirped, offended. He gave her a smile and she stuck out her tongue at him.

 **She’s perfect the way she is,** said _Caharian._

 **And you are the most amazing voidhawk I know,** she replied.

 **If you two want to be alone, I can leave,** laughed Shiro.

 **Takashi!** Allura said, once again. **I haven’t seen you in months, and now you just want to abandon me again? Where are all your manners? I know we shouldn't have let you visit O’Neill Halo all by yourself!**

 **You are just jealous because you couldn’t come with,** said Shiro. **Because you were busy with guess what -** **_Caharian!_ **

**I know, I know,** said Allura. Then she paused for a moment, and he could feel her worry and sadness.

 **Is everything okay?** he asked her.

 **I hope you aren’t too disappointed that I didn’t pick you for my crew,** she sighed. **It’s just… It was a tough choice, and I’m still not sure I decided correctly.**

 **Don’t worry, dear sister, it’s okay,** he assured her. **I admit, it would’ve been interesting, and** **_Caharian_ ** **is a very nice ship,-**

 **Thank you,** interjected _Caharian._

**-but I already have plans, and they don’t really include starship tours. So really, don’t worry, everything is fine.**

She smiled at him, and said, out loud: “Thank you, Takashi.”

He returned the smile: “Am I the best big brother or what?”

“You mean _small?_ ” she asked. “We are going by age, not by height.”

“That is an unfair advantage that I cannot overcome,” sighed Shiro. “Looks like I’m doomed to lose, huh?”

 **Don’t worry, we still like you,** told him _Caharian._

“Speak for yourself,” snorted Allura, and Shiro gave her a wink.

They shared a smile, and Allura took his arm, pulling him excitedly with her, eager to show him the rest of _Caharian,_ and Shiro left himself be dragged after her.

* * *

 

Now

 

_What a complete and utter mess._

Another punch, this time catching his nose, and he could swear that he heard something crack.

_Screw that, this was a complete fuckery._

He tried to hit back, but the dark spots dancing in front of his eyes made it just a little hard to see and aim, so his fist caught nothing but empty space.

_Those fucking pirates._

He could’ve easily taken all three, was actually planning on it, already thinking about how he was going to call his sister and brag to her about it. He had even prepared a quasar grenade (which was right now lying a couple of metres away, unused) _and_ pulled his goggles on (one time was one time too many, and he did not want a repeat of that). Three pirates? Pha, nothing too threatening!

The problem was that there weren’t just three.

So here he was, lying on the ground and desperately trying to figure a way out of this mess that he got himself into.

Right now he was drawing a blank.

Another kick hit him in the chest, and if it weren’t for the plate armour he was wearing, he probably would’ve said goodbye to his ribs.

And wasn’t _that_ a nice thought.

Then suddenly the fight (beating) stopped, and he almost groaned from happiness. But instead he rolled onto his stomach, his head perking up to safely observe the reason for his sudden release.

The reason was… not what he’d have expected.

Four of the pirates were already lying on the floor, unmoving (but of course two of them were Shiro’s fault, so that wasn’t saying much), and the other three were all fighting a single combatant.

A single very agile and very small combatant, to be precise.

The unknown saviour was dressed in a tight black bodysuit, with a short red jacket, and was wearing a mask obscuring their face. There was a blade in their hands, glowing yellow, that the attacker swung expertly around.

Shiro couldn’t help but admire the skill and grace with which the combatant fought, quickly and efficiently dispatching the remaining pirates, not showing them any mercy.

He had to physically stop himself from clapping when the last pirate fell, the combatant pausing for a moment and then switching off the blade.

The glow dimmed and in a couple of second the blade was cool enough for the combatant to stick it back into its sheath.

Shiro, who actually managed to pick himself up in that time, now slowly (carefully not putting too much weight on his possibly twisted, probably broken ankle) dragged himself over to the combatant.

“Thanks,” he said, “You really saved my ass back there.”

The combatant simply nodded, not saying anything.

Shiro paused, not really knowing what to say next, what he was even supposed to say next. Regulations were one thing, but he really did not want to think about reports right now. Maybe go with something easy?

“So I am-”

Before he could finish introducing himself, the combatant suddenly froze, staring past Shiro’s left shoulder. Then, in a blink of an eye, he grabbed Shiro by his collar, and dragged him forward and to the ground.

For exactly a microsecond the sheer confusion simply prevented Shiro from moving, and the huge explosion that suddenly shook the alley was enough incentive to stay put for all the next ones that came after that first one.

As soon as his ears stopped ringing from the unexpected explosion, he opened his eyes, very glad that he was still alive, and assessed current position.

Because of the combatant lying half on top of him, the only new injuries Shiro suffered were numerous bruises on his back and hip, and probably some hearing loss, but that all should repair itself pretty soon.

Even the combatant got away more or less unharmed, making the pirate’s suicidal bombing completely unsuccessful. Well. More or less, in this case, meant that the combatant’s mask was lying half a metre away, cracked.

So when the combatant finally got up, staggering a bit but quickly catching themselves on a wall, Shiro immediately jumped up right after the mysterious stranger, eager to see the face of his rescuer.

And see it he did, when the stranger finally looked up at Shiro’s figure looming over him.

The first thing he noticed were the dark violet eyes staring right back at him, challenging and scared at the same time. Then the rest of the face came into his focus, and, wow. The man was really, _really_ pretty. He almost took Shiro’s breath away, he was so beautiful. Well, not exactly a man, more like a boy, with how young he looked.

But Shiro also felt like he recognised him from somewhe… Oh no. _Oh no._

Instead of a cheesy pickup line, the first thing that came from Shiro’s mouth was: “You are under arrest.”

Surprise flashed over kid’s face, but before he could say something, angry shouting and a few fired shots - damn pirates - interrupted them once again. To be fair, these were _different_ pirates, with a lot more weaponry in their hands, so Shiro only visibly scowled for about two seconds before he grabbed the kid’s hand and pulled him into a sprint.

The kid staggered behind him for a moment, then regained his footing and followed Shiro, but not before ripping his hand out of Shiro’s.

“Do you know where we are going?” Shiro asked him as the kid ran a little bit ahead of Shiro.

The kid didn’t answer, which, rude, and Shiro sneaked a short look behind them. Their pursuers were slower than them, but the range of their weaponry more than made up for that.

“Kid, if you don’t have a concrete plan, then- GET DOWN!”

He just managed to push the kid away from the path of projectiles fired at them. The kid gave him a dirty look for that, which again, rude, but Shiro was already back at his side by then, pulling the kid right behind him again.

“If you won’t talk, then at least follow my lead! You’re gonna get us killed like that!” he yelled at him while they bravely ran away from their opponents, who not only outnumbered them, but outgunned them too. And it wasn’t so much as running away, as more of a strategical retreat.

Yep, after writing so many reports for the Confederation Navy, Shiro had acquired a certain _way_ with words that made everything sound more or less un-disaster like. That is also probably the sole reason that he hasn’t been thrown out yet, to be fair. He really ought to thank Allura for giving him tips.

Now, in the middle of the said strategic retreat, he seriously had to come up with an actual attack plan, or the report writing would be the least of his worries. Besides, he was too young to die, and also Allura would kill him if that were to happen.

But the labyrinth of the alleyways where they were being chased was, sadly, exactly that for Shiro - a maze that he hadn’t quite figured out yet. And the habitat - the asteroid settlement - was an Adamist one, meaning that he couldn’t connect to it with an affinity bond and request the use of surveillance nodes, planted all over the habitat. He couldn’t even access the blueprints, to see the layout and plan from there on. He was practically working blind here, but damn it if he was going to let those pirates get them.

“Come, kid,” he said, “I think I know what to do.”

* * *

As soon as Shiro was sure that the pirates weren’t going to jump at them suddenly from somewhere, he stopped running and slammed the kid against the wall.

The kid grunted in pain, the first real noise from him, and struggled against Shiro’s grasp.

“You are under arrest, Kolivan,” he told the kid, trying to keep him from kicking.

“I save your ass and this is the thanks I get?” now growled the kid. “And why are you even trying to arrest me, how can you even _arrest_ me, you aren’t a…”

The kid shut off, now fully talking in Shiro’s appearance, the gear he was carrying and the body armour. His eyes shot up to met Shiro’s and then he groaned, slamming his head backwards into the wall.

 _“Fuck,”_ he hissed. “Are you fucking _kidding me?_ A CNIS officer, seriously?”

Shiro arched an eyebrow in surprise: “You sound like you were expecting someone else.”

“Maybe I was,” grunted the kid.

“Then I am sincerely sorry,” said Shiro, not being sorry at all. “But you are still under arrest.”

“Augh,” the kid said. “Fuck you, you old asshole.”

“I’m not that old!” was offended Shiro. “Now shut up and let me arrest you! And don’t even think about activating that fission blade.”

“I’m not,” promised the kid. Then he kicked Shiro right between the seams of his body armour, by his right knee, slammed his elbow into Shiro’s neck, and slipped away.

After Shiro stopped wheezing and promising the kid death and pain, he sprinted after him. The kid wasn’t that far ahead, was actually just turning left to… _Fuck_.

Shiro knew that way. That way… led to the docks.

Suddenly, he was running much faster.

* * *

“Kolivan is not even my name!” yelled the kid after being tackled down only a few metres before the entryway to one of the ships, Shiro yelling at him again.

“Are you sure?” asked him Shiro, pulling him up.

“Since it’s _my_ name and not yours, you can’t really give any comments. But yes, I am sure.”

“Then what should I call you?”

The kid froze for a second, with his pale skin, wide opened eyes and trembling lips looking like a spooked _naaki_ , but then quickly said: “Keith. It’s Keith.”

“Keith?” asked Shiro.

“Just Keith,” the kid (Keith) confirmed.

“Well then, Just Keith, you-”

“Are you fucking serious?” interrupted him Keith.

“-are… What?”

“You have a garbage sense of humour,” said Keith.

Shiro couldn’t help himself but stare at him. _This wasn’t happening._ Nah, it wasn’t the critique of his (awful, and he knew it) jokes, but this, this whole thing. This kid, who was potentially (probably) a very dangerous fugitive with an extensive criminal record, who thought snarking and lying to the officer arresting him was fun, and who was _above_ reckless, picked the wrong person to be annoying with.

“Shut your mouth.”

“Or what, you will gag me? I didn’t know you were so weird.”

He forced himself to stay calm and not kick the kid’s ass right at that moment, because that _is not very_ _Edenist of you, Shiro,_ also Keith was a kid and he was an officer of the Confederation Navy, so he had to show the discipline. But it wasn’t like he would seriously hurt him, just to show the kid there was nothing to be snarky at in this situation.

“Listen, _Keith_ ,” he said through gritted teeth, “I am _very_ thankful for your assistance, but if you open your mouth one more time you _will_ suddenly find yourself in so much trouble that those pirates before will seem like a very nice alternative.”

“If I remember this correctly, I wasn’t the one being _harassed_ before,” shot back Keith.

“Well too bad that you stepped in, right,” said Shiro, unable to stop himself.

“Right,” morbidly agreed Keith.

“THERE THEY ARE!”

That shout had them whipping their heads around in a second. And, exactly as they feared, the pirates had apparently managed to find them.

There was at least twenty of them, all heavily armed and quickly advancing.

“This would be the moment you call for backup,” prompted him Keith.

“I am the only CNIS agent in this asteroid belt,” said Shiro back, distractedly.

“Well fuck.”

There was nowhere left for them to run, the docks being one of the more obvious dead ends on the asteroid. They could fight, but that would _not go well_ against those odds. Not only that, but since the settlement was not an Edenist one, if he managed to die right now, he would actually _die_ and his mind state would be lost forever.

Allura would kill him if that happened.

“We are screwed,” he said out loud, “My name is Shiro, by the way. I don’t want to die next to a complete stranger, so you should at least know my name.”

Then looked at Keith, who was staring at him with a puzzled frown that Shiro recognized instantly. The kid was using _affinity_ , something only Edenist could do, and Shiro would eat his own hand (the real one) if Keith were to turn out to be an Edenist.

“Don’t tell me you are an Edenist?” he groaned.

Keith quickly shook his head, then slowly and clearly with much reluctance, said: “But I do have a ship… “

“What are you waiting for, then? Run!” Shiro ushered him away, but the kid didn’t go, just looked at him surprised.

“What,” said Shiro, “I know that you are a wanted criminal, but that doesn’t mean that I want you to die, for fuck’s sake. Go, and I will…”

He looked once again at the approaching horde. Fuck, that _did not_ look good for him.

Keith was still standing next to him, so Shiro gave him a shove: “Go, run!”

“You are such a dumbass,” grumbled Keith, and Shiro was then being dragged through the entryway into an airlock.

“I might be a criminal, but I’m no murderer. Looks like you are coming with me.”

Shiro wanted to protest, but it looked like he had no choice in the matter. Besides, he couldn’t die now. He still hadn’t completed the mission and fulfilled the promise, and he simply _had_ to do that.

If it meant breaking the law to run away with a fugitive, so be it.

Alright, worded like that it _did_ sound pretty bad, but Shiro was adamant to arrest Keith in the next port that they in.

* * *

“Well then, when are we leaving?”

He was almost too afraid to turn back, to look at the officer standing somewhere behind him. His _behaviour_ before had probably ruined all chances of the officer ever not hating him, but that couldn’t be helped now. _Fuck, why was he so bad at dealing with people?_

 **Don’t worry, cub, everything’s going to be fine,** assured him _Aryeh_. Or, it at least _tried_ to assure him, as he didn’t believe it. He did believe that it believed that, but he didn’t believe that that belief had any chance of turning out to be right.

 **How could you know that?** he asked it, desperate. **He is an officer! With CNIS! And I'm a fugitive!** **I’m also terrible at dealing with other people, especially Edenists. And he is so nice, and proper, and hot…**

He promptly shut off as he realized where his thoughts were going. But _Aryeh_ only laughed at him, not pushing him further.

Instead they went over the plotted course together, quickly figuring out the best way to pace the jumping so that it doesn’t stress their passenger too much, but that it is also fast enough to escape any pursuers they might have.

In the middle of the argument whether it was stupid or logical to use one of the biggest Navy strongholds as a transit point - **They will never expect us to go there, and that’s why that is perfect! - Yeah, because they know that we would get captured instantly! Which we will, so forget about that!** \- something warm suddenly touched Keith’s shoulder and he flinched.

There was sheer panic for a moment until _Aryeh_ ’s calmness wrapped around him like a soft, warm blanket, and he looked up in Shiro surprised face.

Shiro had already stepped away, his arms up in a meek ‘don’t shoot!’ gesture. “I just wanted to ask when will we be leaving?” he said, looking a bit guilty. "I don't think the pirates will need long to get to their ship."

“Ah, that, yeah… Uhm, pretty soon probably? Like, you should probably strap yourself in…” Keith trailed off, because he’d just realized that there were no other seats available, in the entire ship.

“Fuck,” he quietly mumbled. _That_ was an unforeseen problem.

 **Red?** he tentatively asked. **What are we going to do?**

It might not look like a big deal, but travelling in voidhawks - in any FTL ship, really - was extremely taxing for the body and could be deadly dangerous for anyone who wasn’t properly prepared for jumps. It was a well known fact that people had lost limbs or even lives, just because they had been insufficiently braced for the journey. And that was in regular ships. People travelling with voidhawks or blackhawks usually had countless improvements and enhancements done on their bodies to sustain the strain of the journey.

So yes, they were in quite a pickle here.

He took a peak behind him, at Shiro, who was looking around the main cabin. **Probably looking for that chair** **_that we do not have_** **,** he sighed. Fuck.

 **If I knew we were going to have guests, I would’ve prepared at least** **_something,_ ** said _Aryeh,_ and he rolled his eyes.

 **Yes, blame it all on me, why don’t you. Need I remind you that it was in fact** **_you_ ** **who started this whole thing?**

Red didn’t respond, and he let his head drop back onto the backside of his chair. Time was quickly ticking away, and they couldn’t leave until they got Shiro somewhere where he wouldn’t destroy all his bones just by improperly seating.

And then he got an idea. Or _Aryeh_ got an idea and shared it with him, maybe. He wasn’t entirely sure, but it didn’t matter.

“That could actually work!”

When Shiro whirled around and looked at him in surprise at his sudden outburst, Keith quickly covered his mouth in shame. He’d incidentally yelled that out loud. Well, after so long of only speaking to _Aryeh_ \- did it still count as speaking if he wasn’t actually talking? - and not to anyone else, his brain was a little kaput.

Alright, it’d been that way for a long time now, but after the past few months it was even _more._

He focused back on Shiro.

“Well, since this ship was made only for one person, there aren’t any other seats. Even the oxygen supply is a bit small for both of us, but Red assures me it will be fine. So the only problem is the seating one, and I think we’ve just solved it. Come here,” he said and gestured to the captain’s (and only) chair.

But Shiro hesitated, actually taking a step back when Keith approached him.

Well. Keith swallowed his disappointment, because clearly, the guy didn’t trust him, and why should he? They’d only known each other for maybe an hour or two, but he’d at least hoped that Shiro wouldn’t be so repulsed by him like other people.

Still, they didn’t exactly have forever, so he took a step back as well and pointed to the chair again: “This will have to do.”

Shiro looked extremely uncomfortable, and Keith couldn’t blame him, but now was _really_ not the time for whatever problem Shiro had with him.

“Look, we’re wasting time _we don’t have,_ so could you please just strap yourself in?” he pleaded, and Shiro finally sighed and stalked to the chair, avoiding Keith’s gaze.

As soon as he was properly strapped in, the consoles near his hands removed, and the headrest adjusted to his height (because the man was really tall and that was _really_ nice), and Keith tried not to feel bad as Shiro tried to avoid even the barest contact between their bodies, Keith took a step back to quickly assess the situation.

Yep, everything was in place and as safe as it was going to get, so they should be leaving quite quickly.

He plopped himself on the ground, in between Shiro’s legs, using the solid slate the chair had instead of legs as a backrest. Holographic consoles appeared all around him, hovering over the floor. He extended his legs, and let his arms fall down, bent just at the right angle in his elbows as to cause him the least amount pain with the pressure he knew will be inevitably forced upon him.

“You ready?” he asked Shiro, but didn’t wait for his reply, because at right that instant, _Aryeh_ butted in with a **Let’s go already!** and he could only smile and obey.

* * *

 

_10 years ago, Valisk_

 

 **Keith, I am extremely disappointed with you,** the voice said. **Not only did you get into a fight, but you didn’t even win.**

Keith hated the voice. It was always angry at him, telling him what to do and trying to command what he thought. There was almost no aspect of his life that the voice didn’t control, and he simply hated it.

 **And that is not all,** the voice went on, **how many times do I have to tell you to stop giving** **_Aryeh_ ** **weird nicknames? Call it by its proper name! It is not your friend, child!**

 **I know,** said Keith. **You’ve told me that many times already.**

 **And apparently, I will have to continue until you remember it,** the voice replied, even colder than usual. **Do not be late for practice tomorrow, or appropriate measures will be taken.**

 **Yes sir,** he murmured.

**Good.**

And with that final word, everything went silent again.

Just for a moment, apparently, as another voice filled his head. But this one didn’t fill him with dread, but rather warmth and happiness.

 **Well, that was unpleasant,** _Aryeh_ said. **He is such a nasty and obnoxious individual.**

 **_It_ ** **is a habitat, not an individual,** reminded it Keith.

 **Kid, you can call Rubra** **_it_ ** **all you want, doesn’t change the fact that** **_he_ ** **was once human,** _Aryeh_ fired back.

 **Don’t call me kid,** Keith said.

 **Who is the older one here again?** asked _Aryeh,_ and a feeling of smugness radiated over the affinity bond between them.

Keith sighed. **You are,** he said, **but just around a year and a half, which is nothing!**

 **Still, I am older, and also bigger,** said _Aryeh_.

 **You cannot compare sizes! You are a ship! Of course you are bigger!** protested Keith, all outraged.

 **That might be so, but I also know that you are pretty small for your age,** replied _Aryeh,_ the smugness still there.

 **Shut up,** grumbled Keith.

 **Ah, are we sulking again?** teased _Aryeh_ , but Keith didn’t respond.

 **Cub,** _Aryeh_ then said, and Keith could immediately feel the love and care radiating from it, the ship sending all those emotions to him.

 **Red,** he whispered back, the ship’s feelings soothing him and battling back the panic that had threatened to overtake him just a moment back.

 **Yes,** _Aryeh_ said, **call me whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. I’m yours.**

 **And I am yours,** he replied, his affection spilling over the bond to the ship, **don’t leave me.**

**I won’t, I promise.**

* * *

 

Now

 

After the fourth jump _Aryeh_ stopped for a moment longer, not the mere seconds that it usually took to adjust its position, but for half an hour, to bask in the sun and refuel its energy reserves.

They were about 40 light-years from their original position, both Keith and _Aryeh_ quite sure they’d lost any possible pursuers.

Of course, their journey was far from over, but jumps were hard for people, and _Aryeh_ didn’t want to overwhelm the officer travelling with them too much. It was the only one who thought that.

Keith was actually trying to get some sleep, as the past few days had been hectic for him. Lying right there on the floor was very uncomfortable, but he wasn’t about to leave a Confederate officer alone in the main cabin.

So he resorted to suffering on the cold, hard floor. Which was very terrible. He filled that under ‘things that need to be discussed but probably never will because the next time I will remember them I will probably be dying so they won’t seem relevant, at all’. Not that he was dying a lot, because he wasn’t that incompetent.

Some ( _Aryeh_ ) might disagree, but then again, some ( _Aryeh_ ) were rather biased.

He loved his ship.

He could dream about her the whole half an hour, lying on this horrendous floor.

Then something started poking at his mind, and it was not the awful floor.

 **What is going on?** he nudged _Aryeh._

Instead of answering, _Aryeh_ showed it to him, allowing him to feel what it felt for a moment, to literally see what it saw. In the vastness of space surrounding them was an unknown ship, slowly approaching, _Aryeh_ just being able to sense it at the complete maximum of its field.

 **Red, what do you think?** asked Keith. **This doesn’t feel like a voidhawk.**

 **You’re right, it’s not, it’s too powerful,** agreed _Aryeh._ **But look at those codes. I’m pretty sure I recognize them.**

“Officer, can you please take a look at that approaching ship?” Keith said, turning to Shiro. “Check if you can see where’s it from, or who it is currently flying for.”

Shiro only needed a few seconds before he said: “That blackhawk is definitely under the employment of the Magellanic Itg, and it’s more or less broadcasting it. I can recognize that sequence anywhere, this one is directly from Valisk.”

“That’s Rubra then, for sure,” murmured Keith. “How did he manage to find us?”

“I don’t think that’s the important question right now, Keith. Is the ship combat-ready?” asked Shiro.

“Not really,” admitted Keith. “Lasers are all operational, but we only have a few combat wasps left.”

“That won’t do,” said Shiro. “We have to assume they are fully armed and ready to attack.”

“We won’t beat them one-on-one,” agreed Keith.

 **We are not running!** protested _Aryeh_ . **It’s the only thing we’ve been doing for the past few months, and I am sick of it!**

**We can’t take them, Red, don’t you see it? And once they get close enough to us, we’re stuck. Besides, we can’t really risk any risky maneuvers because of Shiro.**

“We could maybe pretend to be someone or something else, camouflage the ship and wait until they go away,” suggested Shiro.

“That’s a good idea, but I’m afraid Red is a little bit too recognizable to be able to just slip by,” confessed Keith.

 **No!** said _Aryeh_ again, but with a lot less heat behind it. Keith knew it had already figured out that running away was their best (and probably only) option, and it was only protesting because it didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of telling it _‘I told you so’_.

 **Come on,** **_Aryeh,_ ** **you can even show off, if you would like that,** he told it.

 _Aryeh_ literally perked up at that, stopping its sulking for the moment, and asking: **Really?**

**Yes, if you want to, of course.**

**_Finally,_ ** _Aryeh_ replied in a strange tone of voice, and for a second Keith reconsidered his decision. But then he felt the delight the ship was feeling, and he immediately forgot about his doubts.

 **You’ll do great,** he told it.

* * *

Shiro grabbed the armrests, thankful for the fact that he had the seat. The previous few jumps weren’t that awful, but he could feel that this one was going to be something else. The focus with which Keith was looking forward was a good indicator, not to talk about the giant wormhole that appeared in front of the ship. It was really big, and the ship was swallowed easily, slipping into the tunnel through empty dimensions. He couldn’t exactly tell where the terminus was, but it sure didn’t look too close.

The ship was in there for only a couple of seconds, quickly reaching the terminus and falling through it into real space. A gas giant came up on the screen in front of them, the ship accelerating hard and pulling upwards to avoid getting too close to it.

They were too close to the planet for them to have emerged in an established Emergence zone, so there probably weren’t any human settlements anywhere near them.

He quickly checked the space around the ship, not detecting any wormholes forming or any sort of communication. The ship’s navigation system put them in the Trohej star system, just around… _23 light-years_ from Ltall.

He couldn’t help but quietly whistle at that, very impressed. No wonder Keith looked tired. That was quite an impressive distance, probably even the maximum distance jump the ship could do.

The ship.

Fuck.

There was simply _no way_ that a voidhawk could’ve done that. Yes, they were great, but not _that_ great.

This was no voidhawk, Shiro suddenly realised. He was sitting in a _blackhawk._

The moment of panic he experienced was immediately thwarted by intrigue. This posed so many questions! How did a scrawny little kid like that even get a blackhawk? You couldn’t steal these ships, they were _bonded_ to their captains, and Keith was clearly very close to the ship and an expert pilot. He also knew how to fight, but that was a given, since he came from Valisk.

Or did he?

Valisk was gunning for him, that much was certain. There was a very hefty reward for whoever would capture him and bring him back to the habitat, _alive._ Even the Confederation Navy had been alerted by Valisk and asked for help, even though Valisk inhabitants and the habitat personality constantly ignored and disregarded Confederation’s own rules and laws.

But a criminal was a criminal, and Confederation added Keith to their list of wanted fugitives.

So of course Shiro had to get stuck with him, in this ship that he _thought_ it was just a really special voidhawk but it was turning out to actually be a _blackhawk_ , and he knew that Allura would be laughing at him if she could see him right now.

He risked a glance at the shape on the floor, between his legs (and wasn’t _that_ an inappropriate thought - he should totally save it for later), where Keith was still resting, then looked up to stare at the gas giant some more.

Well, even if this was a blackhawk, that didn’t really change anything, did it. Besides increasing their chances of survival exponentially, of course. The ‘well-known fact’ that blackhawks could only be controlled by evil people and were themselves nasty ships was probably just stereotyping. Probably. _Hopefully._

Man, he was _not_ a good Edenist, was he. One of the reasons he got so invested in the Navy. Well. Or maybe it went the other way?

He unstrapped himself and stood up, careful not to disturb Keith, who was still silently sitting on the floor.

“Hey, kid, uhm, Keith, are you okay?” Shiro asked, leaning forward. Keith was still staring at the floor, hands protectively curled around his middle.

Keith nodded: “It’s fine, yes. We are both just a tad exhausted.”

“About that…” Shiro started, not sure how Keith would react to his inquiry, but then asked anyway: “can you introduce me to your ship?”

“Introduce you?” Keith’s eyes anxiously flittered around the cabin. He was pointedly avoiding looking into Shiro’s face. “Are - are you sure? I know… It’s not your… I mean, probably?”

“Probably?”

“Yeah. It might not want to talk to you, it doesn’t… It doesn’t like strangers very much,” Keith murmured.

“That’s alright,” assured him Shiro. He hadn’t exactly met many blackhawks before, so he had no idea if that behaviour was normal or not. For voidhawks, it definitely wasn’t.

“Can you at least tell me its name?”

“It’s _Aryeh,_ ” said Keith, “and well, you have probably already figured it out, but it’s a blackhawk.”

That last part was rushed, uttered just above a whisper, like he was hoping that Shiro wouldn’t hear him.

“Yes, I’ve guessed something along those lines when we jumped 23 LY and are still flying. But this is no ordinary ship, is it. You can fly it all by yourself. Actually, you are supposed to fly it by yourself, judging by your complete lack of preparedness for any, ahm, _guests._ ” Shiro pointedly looked around the cabin, indicating the (mostly) empty space.

Keith couldn’t help but snort at that last remark: “Guests? Don’t delude yourself. The only reason you aren’t dead right now, and I have already said that, but obviously I have to repeat it, is because of me. Because of _us_. So don’t go out of your way dissing us, it won’t do you any good.”

“Relax, I was just joking.”

“Your jokes suck. I think we’ve already established that,” argued Keith.

“Your insult doesn’t really count as an argument,” said Shiro. “And don’t bother pretending, I can see you going off the topic. I want answers, now,” he demanded.

Keith now finally picked himself up, to lessen the height difference between them, and to get into Shiro’s personal space. “And I am telling you _you don’t get to demand that_ ,” he hissed. “You aren’t in a Confederation ship right now, nor are you in the midst of Confederation agents that agree with your every word even before you say it. No, _I_ make the rules here.”

Shiro immediately grabbed him by his shoulders, pushing him back and down. For a second he hesitated, not sure if what he was doing was really alright, but then he didn’t have much choice. The kid was a criminal, not so much a kid but more like a troubled teenager, and he was Shiro’s only hope of survival. Yes, the situation was awful.

“You can’t kill me. If I die, the ship will immediately kill you too,” Keith said, staring into his eyes completely unafraid.

Shiro released him.

It wasn’t really worth it. Keith _was_ just a kid, a pretty cute kid at that. And Shiro wasn’t that big of a monster, no way (not yet).

This was such a fuck up he nearly started banging the wall with his head. Not that it would help.

But then a sudden thought overcame him.  _This could be it. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't such a disaster after all._

“Get me to Tranquility, and you get to walk away a free man. Free Kid. Whatever. Just do it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their journey and arrival to Tranquility are... not uneventful, but it could've been worse. Three stars out of five.

It would take several more hours to reach Tranquility, and Shiro planned to use them in the best way possible, utilising his skills to acquire precious information that could be later passed on to his superiors and into the right intelligence gathering groups.

“So, since we will be spending so much time together,” Shiro started, “you can tell me a little about yourself.”

“And why would I do that,” asked Keith, expect that it wasn’t really a question but more of an emotionless statement that just _screamed_ ‘leave me alone!’.

“Well,” said Shiro, “it will get quite boring with both of us being quiet, won’t it?”

“I think I prefer silence and boredom over you,” murmured Keith. He was still facing forward, refusing to move even an inch from his place between Shiro’s lower legs. Over his shoulders Shiro could see just the upper corners of holograms around him, but they weren’t showing anything that he was familiar with.

“And I would prefer not to die from boredom. Oh, I know! Let’s play 20 questions!”

“How are you a real CNIS agent?” asked Keith, sounding a bit perplexed at Shiro’s enthusiastic attitude. “Besides, why would… I mean…”

He seemed not to find the right words, so he shut down for a bit. Shiro couldn’t see his face, but he would bet that the kid was probably conversing with his ship.

This was his chance.

“Hm,” he started, “if you aren’t planning on saying anything, then I guess I will just talk for both of us, because you won’t do your part. Well then. Let’s revisit the facts! You are Keith No-Last-Name, and Valisk is offering millions of credits for your head, still attached to your body. It has been doing that for seven months now, slowly but steadily increasing the amount offered. For some reason, they are calling you Kolivan? Which you said wasn’t your real name. And do you know that they’ve not even really specified why they want you? Only for some not disclosed crimes against the habitat, which, weird.” He could feel the trepidation in Keith, as well as some unknown entity pressing onto his mind, the sheer power of it telling him it was the ship. But something held it at bay, not letting it unleash all of its apparent fury for Shiro and probably kill him in the process.

So he went on, disregarding his personal safety.

“What could you do to piss off one of the most corrupt places in the Galaxy? There have been no murders reported when the warrant went out, no big structural damages or industrial sabotage. Besides, a person capable of things like that would have no qualms about leaving those pirates to beat me to death. But then there’s your ship. A beautiful, extremely powerful blackhawk, specifically engineered and grown. I’ve never seen one like it, and I’ve seen hundreds of ‘hawks. This is a _very_ special ship. Valisk wants the ship handled with utmost care. All of that leads me to believe that you _stole_ this ship.”

During his short speech Keith was getting more jittery by the second, and as soon as Shiro mentioned the word ‘stole’, he jumped to his feet, apparently not caring a bit about his personal safety as he turned around to face Shiro.

His hands were balled into fists, trembling as he squeezed through gritted teeth: “Call me a criminal all you want, but don’t _ever_ imply that I stole Red, especially not from Valisk! He gave-”

And with that he shut off, his eyes widening in fear and surprise, hands flying to his mouth a bit too late to keep the words from escaping.

Shiro couldn’t help himself and smirked at Keith's obvious distress: “‘He’ _gave_ it to you? By ‘he’ you probably mean Rubra, the habitat’s personality and leader of that awful place? And why would he give you something so _nice,_ huh? He cares for no one but his _heirs_.”

He wasn’t aware that Keith’s skin could get any whiter, but in that moment, it did. Keith staggered back, pure fear in his face. Shiro’s heart ached for him, but he had to go on.

“And you? You aren’t an Edenist, but you still have affinity. There are only a few people like that in the Galaxy, and most of them are Rubra’s heirs, their affinity giving him greater control over them. Oh, but ‘ _he’_ has many of them, and he most certainly doesn’t equip everyone with a ship like this one. What’s more, his frantic efforts to get you back seem to confirm the idea that you are more than just one of his many kids, more than his usual ‘slaves’ that are basically just copies of him in new bodies.”

Now Shiro stood up as well, slowly advancing at Keith, pushing him back without even touching him, ignoring the growing feeling of anger from the ship. “You are hiding, helping the Confederation - the people you should at least consider inferior, if not see as your enemies - and are most adamant to stay away from Valisk, from Rubra.”

He pointed a finger at Keith, and pushed it straight into the middle of his chest: “It’s pretty clear what’s going on. You were slowly raised, groomed by Rubra himself, to become his next puppet, ‘ _the heir_ ’, when you _somehow_ managed to escape. Valisk isn’t hunting you for any committed atrocities, they just want their prize project back, their next _leader_.”

Keith was still staring at him, clearly unable to say anything. Shiro slowly stepped back, internally wincing at his actions right now. Yes, he had to see if his theory was correct, but did he really have to terrify Keith like this?

 _Yes_ , whispered something in his mind. _The mission is worth everything._

“Even if, if that _preposterous_ story that you just told was true, and we both know it isn’t,” now hissed Keith, who finally got his voice back, “what good would knowing that do? You will either uphold your word to let me go or not. This doesn’t change anything.”

Shiro stared back at him, contemplating his response for a second. He was now absolutely sure that his theory was correct, but that presented him with a new problem. Now he wanted to help Keith, because it was his duty to protect people, and Keith definitely needed help.

He was also almost completely sure that Keith would never ask for it, not of his own volition anyways.

He sat back into the chair, and absentmindedly nodded: “Of course. Forget that I said anything.”

Now Keith was the one pushing into his space bubble. “Forget?” he yelled. “You just accused me of being the son of one of the worst people in the Galaxy! The next ruler of one of the most immoral, law-avoiding habitats in existence! And I’m supposed to just _let it go!?”_

“First, Rubra isn’t one of the worst people in the Galaxy, as he is not technically ‘people’ anymore. Also, that ‘the worst people’ place belongs to Laton, definitely. Second, isn’t that better than thinking you are some hardened criminal?” said Shiro, then immediately winced. What was with him today? All of his smoothness and tactics had apparently been lost somewhere in between getting beat up by pirates and trying to arrest Keith.

“Well, in this Galaxy, you are a criminal as soon as you reveal you have ties with Valisk,” murmured Keith, apparently choosing to ignore the first part about Rubra not being a person anymore.

 _Like it wasn’t the truth,_ mentally shrugged Shiro, finally noticing that the tension the ship’s anger presented had disappeared.

Keith went on: “And yet, you all still seem happy to work with Magellanic Itg as long as it’s profitable, ignoring the fact that Valisk is still its primary owner and that Rubra himself founded it.”

Shiro frowned: “Confederation Navy definitely doesn’t.” _As far as I know_ , he added silently. He was unhappy to admit it, but there was much he still didn’t know about the inner workings of the Navy and all its secret projects and missions. And it wasn’t as impossible as he would’ve liked it to be that they _had_ , indeed, been working with Magellanic Itg the whole time while also publicly prosecuting Valisk.

“Is that really what you think? Please, I’m sure you’ve seen it as well! Fewer and fewer Edenists are signing up for duty, lowering the numbers of active and reserve voidhawks exponentially. Then there’s also the fact that most, if not all of the pirates use blackhawks as their primary ships, which it makes really hard for the Navy to catch them. And no sane captain that has a blackhawk under their command, bonded to them, would ever sign up for a Tour. But the Navy desperately needs those ships! So what they do?” Keith spread his hands, a grimace on his face. “They buy them! They buy a whole bunch of blackhawks, weaponize and bond them, and bam! Blackhawk squads, elite teams for undercover or high-skill operations, there they are.”

Shiro had to admit that that sounded plausible, at least with his current level of knowledge. Of course, there was also the more probable option; Keith was lying to him. But for some strange reason Shiro just couldn’t make himself believe that, even with all the evidence about how untrustworthy Keith really was.

But then there was the additional bit of information that Keith let slip with this whole conspiracy theory of his. “And how, do tell me, would _you_ know about something like that?”

His inquiry was met with a perplexed look on Keith face, which slowly turned into fear as he realised he managed to reveal additional additional information about himself. But he closed off quickly, and said: “I have my sources.”

“Really,” was sceptic Shiro. “A seventeen-year-old boy, who is basically a runaway, knows people inside the Confederation Navy that give him intel so classified, even senior CNIS officers don’t know about it?” _Unless you really are a heir to Rubra. Because that_ would _explain everything._

Keith didn’t answer.

Shiro sighed. This was going _great_.

* * *

 _Aryeh_ was laughing at him.

 **This is serious!** he told it. **This could pose a serious problem for us, you know!**

A short pause, and-

 **You knew about this, didn’t you,** he grumbled.

 **What, about him not being as dumb as you thought he was?** _Aryeh_ sounded amused.

**YES! Damn it, warn me the next time! Now he knows, and that’s dangerous.**

**I wouldn’t worry about it too much,** it assured him.

 **Red, this is** **_serious._ ** **If he reports this to his superiors, then-**

 **He won’t,** interrupted him _Aryeh._

 **How can you be so sure?** he asked.

There was no reply, and after a second of waiting, he relented: **Alright then. But if this kills us, remember that it’s all your fault.**

The ship didn’t respond anymore, and he sunk to the floor, sulking. Fuck, he really screwed up, didn’t he. He shouldn’t have automatically assumed that the officer was just another grunt, all wonderful muscles and no brains. He apparently had both. _Fuck_.

It would take a couple of minutes more for the ship to be ready to jump again, and until then he could wallow in self-pity. It sounded fun.

He glanced up at the officer (Shiro), sitting in the captain’s chair, who was gazing through the forward screen, clearly deep in thought, his powerful arms gripping the armrests and…

He looked away. This was going to be a difficult journey.

* * *

Besides being the biggest habitat that Keith had ever seen, Tranquility wasn’t much to look at from outside. It was surrounded by many ships, both Adamist and Edenist, but the most numerous ones were clearly blackhawks. And while Valisk only seldom interacted with Tranquility, Keith couldn’t help but feel nervous, just about ready for one of those ships slowly drifting around the habitat to suddenly turn around and attack them, demanding their surrender.

They had requested permission to approach, which was immediately granted, and _Aryeh_ started slowly approaching Tranquility’s docking ridges, carefully keeping itself under the speed limit. They could not afford to anger the Lord of Ruin, the sole and absolute ruler of Tranquility. And while the habitat wasn’t exactly a member of the Confederation, it nevertheless cooperated with the Navy when it wanted to, or had something to gain from it.

Despite the habitat’s reputation being marginally better than Valisk’s, Keith had an extremely bad feeling about it.

Even just staring at it from the outside made him feel sick, and the slow approach was almost killing him.

 **Do you feel that?** he asked _Aryeh._ **I don’t know what it is, but it’s** **_bad._ **

**I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you are talking about. Everything seems and feels perfectly normal to me. Well, almost. I haven’t been in such a big crowd of ‘hawks in a while. It’s nice.**

He could feel its longing through the bond, and it saddened him.

 **Sorry,** he said, but _Aryeh_ gave a mental equivalent of a shrug and told him not to worry about it.

“Have you ever been to Tranquility before?” he asked Shiro, if only to break the awkward and unsettling silence in the cabin.

Shiro hesitated for a moment, clearly startled that Keith was talking to him without being prompted, but still answered: “A couple of times, yeah. It is a pretty interesting place. Not for everyone, that’s for sure, but still pretty amazing.”

Keith hummed in response, and then said: “I thought you Navy types didn’t really frequent places like this.”

“Yeah, well, this was before I got into Navy,” replied Shiro. “I am allowed to have an interesting past as well, right? Besides, how would you know what we ‘Navy types’ are like?”

Keith didn’t answer, and instead gazed forwards, through the main screen. “Still,” he said, “don’t you find it weird when habitats don’t talk to you? I mean, with you being an Edenist and all.”

“Maybe at first,” admitted Shiro, “but it’s completely normal now. It’s actually been a while since I’ve last been to one of our habitats.”

That last part almost sounded something akin to _wistful_ , and he could swear that there was longing in Shiro’s eyes.

“Why don’t you ever visit? Don’t you have a family somewhere?” Keith asked, wondering if it was a too personal question.

Apparently not, as Shiro chose to answer: “Well, my work doesn’t really permit me to just jump around as I please. Besides, my sister works in the Navy as well, so we see each other often.”

Keith was kind of surprised that Shiro would want to share something so personal as family matters with him. There was a big chance that he was just lying to make Keith trust him, but Red didn’t believe that, and it made sure that Keith knew as well.

“I won’t ask about your family, as I’m pretty sure you have nothing nice to say about your siblings or your paternal figure.”

Keith distractedly nodded, still stuck on whether Shiro was lying or not, so it took a moment for the words to hit him. His head whirled around, and he stared, surprised, at Shiro. “How…”

“Oh please,” said Shiro, “Rubra is an awful person, and his little carbon copies can’t be much better.”

“So you’re still stuck on the idea that I’m Rubra’s kid,” said Keith.

Shiro shrugged: “It’s not so much of an idea, but more like an unconfirmed fact, wouldn’t you say?”

Keith scoffed at that, not answering, knowing fully well that that would probably just enforce Shiro’s belief. Damn it.

“Besides,” Shiro drawled on, “Valisk is no place to raise a child in anyway. So even _if_ , and that’s is a _very_ big _if_ , _if_ you are somehow _not_ - _"_

“Oh look, we’re docking!” interrupted him Keith, pointing to the main screens. “We are here. This is Tranquility.”

* * *

 _Tranquility_. The habitat itself!

The ship docked softly, and Shiro wouldn’t even have noticed that they had stopped moving were it not for the multiple displays around them informing him of that very fact.

They were finally here. _Here!_ The place he’d been trying to visit for the past year, always somehow running into trouble on the way there. And then, finally, something as crazy as this thing with the kid, Keith, got him there.

The outside chamber of the airlock depressurised with a soft hum, and he made his way to the corner of the cabin, previous conversation not forgotten but pushed away, saved for later. He started pulling off his armour, anything that might identify him as a member of the Confederation Navy, as well as his many weapons.

“We should probably leave our weapons behind,” he advised Keith. “Tranquility doesn’t really take well to heavily armoured strangers.”

Keith slowly put the gun down, clearly still wary of him, but didn’t unsheathe his blade, and Shiro doubted he could actually get him to part with it, even just for a second.

So he shrugged, and turned to the airlock.

This was not going to be easy. He only had some vague idea about where to start searching, as he was not even completely sure the person he was looking for was even here. Tranquility was certainly his best bet, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it was also the correct one.

There was also the additional fact that the Navy had by now probably already discovered the accident (yes, Shiro was calling it an accident) and everything that’d followed it, and had probably already classified him as a fugitive, a wanted man. It was not ideal, and would probably make this whole thing a lot harder than necessary, but he could work with it.

“You coming or what?” he asked, looking back at Keith, who was still behind him, slouching next to the main screen.

“I thought the deal was just to get you here, then I can leave,” murmured Keith.

“I can still arrest you,” said Shiro, lying through his teeth. Technically, he could, but he would probably find himself in handcuffs not a moment later, so it wasn’t exactly an ideal situation.

But Keith didn’t know that.

“Just come with me. We will probably need to make a hasty exit afterwards, and honestly, I think you ship is the only one that could actually escape Tranquility.”

Keith perked up at the praise, then immediately looked at him with suspicion: “And how do I know that you will let me go after that?”

“You don’t. Now shut up and come with me, quietly. Tranquility doesn’t actually care much about what is happening between foreigners as long as they are not disrupting its workings or bothering the inhabitants, so even if you struggle, no one will care.”

“That’s harsh,” said Keith.

“That’s one of the nicer habitats, kid,” Shiro said.

“You don’t need to tell me that, I’m from _Valisk_ ,” hissed Keith. “And don’t call me kid.”

“Sorry, _wanted criminal,_ I will attempt to do right by you.”

If the cold glare Keith sent him was any indication of how much his jokes were appreciated, Shiro couldn’t wait but test them all on him.

“Please don’t speak unless spoken to, otherwise I’m afraid you could cause a real incident. Not that you speak much anyways.”

“Well thanks,” huffed Keith.

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“I know.”

* * *

”So where exactly are we headed?” asked him Keith as soon as they stood outside of the ship, looking around the docks.

It was white. Everything around them was white, but it was the wrong shade of white. Similar to the appearance of typical Edenist habitats, but off by a few degrees, just enough to put every Edenist that came to visit on edge.

The docks were almost empty, scarcely few people mulling around with nobody paying any special attention to the new arrivals outside of an occasional glance.

Shiro quietly hummed to himself, quickly looking around in search of… There!

A humanoid robot was making his way over to them, and Shiro silently pleaded that there was no recent charge in protocol and they wouldn’t ask for their IDs. If they did, they were screwed.

The robot reached them, slightly bowing in welcome, its synthetic voice greeting them cheerfully: “Welcome to Tranquility, the biggest habitat around! We are happy that you decided to visit us! Is this your first visit?”

Shiro already had an identity set up in the habitat’s memory, but he was almost certain that the Navy knew about it and had already flagged it down. So lying through his teeth it was.

“Yes, this is our first visit,” he said, Keith looking up at him with a surprised frown on his face.

“Well then! We will attempt to make your stay here as pleasurable as possible. But first, please identify yourself and your transport.”

 _Fake names, fake names, think fast…_ “I am Ryou, this is Red,” he said, pointing at Keith who glared back at him, “and we arrived in a blackhawk named _Lion._ ” _Stellar job, Shiro._

Thankfully, the robot didn’t ask for their papers. Instead it quickly briefed them on the most important rules and behavioral norms, which weren’t anything new for Shiro, but he could see Keith attentively listening.

Then they were off, heading straight in the direction in which Shiro hoped the research facilities were. He hadn’t asked the robot for directions, because that could’ve been labeled as suspicious behavior, and he didn’t want the habitat’s personality paying any close attention to them.

“Stop staring,” he hissed at Keith, who was outright gaping at the magnificent infrastructure around them.

“But I thought you said that we were first-time visitors? So what’s wrong with acting like one?” hissed Keith back.

“Well, no person that actually has any business being here acts like that. And we _do not_ want to seem suspicious.”

“Whatever you say,” Keith murmured dejectedly, but obeyed him, so Shiro counted that as a win.

Of course it only lasted for a couple of minutes.

“Hey, do you actually know where we are going?” asked him Keith. The I-think-we-are-lost part was left unsaid, but Shiro could hear it just fine in his tone.

“Yes, I do know, unlike you, so don’t question me,” he snapped back, hoping that the rebuke would maybe shut Keith up before the personality noticed them. And he couldn’t be seen acting too nice with a wanted criminal, as he was sure they would later review the footage from the many sensory clusters all around them.

“Sheesh, it was a simple question, no need to bite my head off,” said Keith, and sighed. “And I actually thought we were getting somewhere.”

Shiro _really_ didn’t have time for that: “Well, we weren’t. Now shut up and let me concentrate.”

He had to admit it - they were lost. They had either moved the research facilities or changed the hallways, and Shiro was lost. Simply wandering around the habitat until they got somewhere would, not only not work, but also attract lots of unwanted attention.

So he resigned himself to do the other thing.

The habitat’s core personality talked only to the Lord of Ruin, but there were lots of smaller (and a bit stupider, but still marginally smarter than humans) sub-personalities for habitat’s inhabitants to make use of, if they ever had to. They were usually contacted over neural nanonics that every Adamist was equipped with, but Shiro knew from experience that they could be contacted with an affinity bond as well.

Now he reached out to the nearest sub-personality, with a clear intention of making a query.

The personality immediately acknowledged him, meeting him halfway in a greeting: **Welcome, Ryou! I am pleasantly surprised to see that you use affinity. An Edenist, how wonderful! Are you in need of assistance?**

**Yes I am. Could I get a detailed map of this place? We seem to have got lost.**

**No problem! I will give it to you in a moment, but remember: if it isn’t on the map, you are not supposed to go there!** The personality sounded weirdly cheerful for delivering a very serious warning.

And in the next moment, as promised, a big mental map of the whole habitat imprinted in Shiro’s mind, highlighting their position as well as that of the ship. He was also pretty sure he saw ‘research facilities’ mentioned somewhere, which was the only thing that really mattered.

He thanked the personality and shut off the connection, quickly taking another look at the map.

“Come, we need to go this way,” he said, grabbing Keith’s hand. “It isn’t that far. And do take your hand off your knife, it’s really rude.”

* * *

To say that Keith had sulked the whole way to wherever the fuck Shiro dragged him would be a lie. He didn’t sulk, he… _brooded_. Yes, that.

The building wasn’t anything special. Well, existing in any other place that wasn’t Tranquility (or Eden, for that matter), it would’ve been regarded as a true architectural marvel in its simplistic, yet such beautiful design, but here, in the habitat, it was completely overshadowed by its neighbours.

There were no big letters on it, no small plague or any sort of inscription to give it a name or to explain its function. And yet Shiro dragged him straight to the front doors.

They didn’t encounter anyone on their way into the building, be it robots or humans. Just the oppressing whiteness all around them, completely spotless. It was almost frightening, in its perfection. _Nothing_ was perfect, and the more it looked like it was, the bigger faults it was hiding.

It was making Keith uneasy. The feeling of being watched that started as soon as he stepped out of the ship and was still persistent, only started getting stronger the further into the habitat they got. Of course, Keith had got used to being watched all the time in Valisk, the habitat’s personality supervising him constantly. But this felt more intense, like someone was truly paying attention to him, not just idly observing the happenings.

He hated it.

Too focused on his thoughts he almost crashed into Shiro when the officer suddenly stopped, the grip on his hand finally lessening.

“Shi- _Ryou_!” he exclaimed, remembering the fake name thing at the last possible second. “The fuck?!”

But Shiro was in a staring contest with someone. A bit taller than Keith, the older woman that stood in front of them, could give Shiro’s muscles and scowl a run for their money. Her hands at her hips, short grey hair allowing them to see her impressive earrings, the only thing that struck Keith was the fact that she was wearing _green._

It seemed so out of place, so untidy and not belonging here, at all. It was wonderful.

However, the woman certainly didn’t have such a good opinion about them.

“Get out,” she spat. “I don’t know _what_ you two think you are doing here - _get out._ ”

Two robots, similar to the one that welcomed the at the docks, were slowly drawing up from behind her. Both of them had green shapes painted on them, bright splashes of paint that somehow brought life into them.

“Ma’am, we’re just here to-”

Shiro was almost immediately interrupted by the woman’s derisive, sharp laugh: “ _Ma’am?_ Don’t call me that. Get out!”

“But we need to-”

“I don’t care! Get out, or I will get the robots to dispose of you!” she yelled.

But Shiro didn’t relent: “I must see Matt! Matt Holt! Do you know him?”

Surprise flashed over the woman’s face, but it was quickly replaced with anger: “Are you one of those Navy bastards? Here to take him away or beat him up again? You are, aren’t you! Get out, I said!”

She pointed at them with her finger, ready to sic the robots on them, when another voice interrupted them: “Shelia, wait!”

Behind the robots was a young man, with short light brown hair, light freckled skin and dressed in green as well, who was now running towards them.

“Get back, Matt, this isn’t safe,” the woman said.

But Matt shook his head, a big smile on his face: “Nah, it’s alright. I know them. Well,” he stopped himself and gestured with his hand: “I know one of them, but that’s good enough.”

Keith glanced at Shiro and saw him watching the newcomer - Matt - with the same happy smile that actually reached his eyes. _Oh man_ , was this Matt Shiro’s boyfriend?

“If you say so,” grumbled the woman, turning on her heel and stalking away, the robots obediently following behind.

“It’s good to see you,” said Shiro and pulled Matt into a strong hug that Matt happily returned. But there was no kissing. Hmmm… Maybe they were very reserved boyfriends.

“I can’t believe the Navy finally allowed you to come visit,” said Matt, and Shiro immediately went red.

Well well well, this was getting interesting.

“They… They hadn’t, actually. It’s… It’s a pretty weird situation. A very long story. But hey! Meet Red!” Shiro said, and pointed at Keith at the end.

Matt now finally looked at him, and Keith waved a little in acknowledgement. Matt nodded back, then, seemingly satisfied with something, smirked and turned to Shiro: “Speaking of long stories - you won’t believe some of the shit that I’ve heard! Come, you _have_ to see this!”

He grabbed Shiro’s hand and pulled him down the hallway, Keith following them, feeling perplexed.

Just who _was_ this person?

“-and anyway, this is all just fiiiiiine - if you believe it, of course - but we couldn’t take chances, so we turned it around and decided to look-”

Matt was excitedly rambling about something, but Keith wasn’t really able to pay attention, as they had just at that moment entered the what was probably the main research station. And it was _huge,_ buzzing with activity and chatter, colour and sound. It was probably the first time that he saw so many people together, in one place, and there was no fighting going on. What a wonder.

He would’ve stared at it for a lot longer, if it were not for Shiro suddenly poking him.

“Hey!” he yelled, slapping Shiro’s hand away. “What do you want?”

“Well, we - me and Matt -” Shiro started, only to be interrupted by Matt, who sternly said: “Matt and I.”

Shiro gave him an affectionate smile, and rolled his eyes: “Alright, the fuckboy on my left and I have some catching up to do, so you can go and do whatever you please while we do that. Just don’t do anything too illegal-” Keith frowned at that, but then Shiro leaned closer and whispered:”-and remember, your name is Red!”

“Right, right. And what is keeping me from just going back to my ship and leaving you here?” asked Keith, petulantly.

Shiro stared at him for a second, then said: “You want your secret to stay a secret, right.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a barely disguised threat, and Keith immediately nodded.

“Then stay in the habitat, I will come to you.”

Then Shiro turned to Matt, a smile appearing on his face out of nowhere. Keith knew a dismissal when he saw one, and he quietly slunk out of the room, not interrupting the happy couple.

For some reason Shiro’s coldness made his chest feel heavy, but he was never good with emotions, so he tried to not think about it.

It wasn’t going that well.

* * *

”Fuck the Navy,” grumbled Matt, and Shiro could only nod. _Fuck them all_.

“I swear, if it weren’t for Saldana, they would just keep on pestering me until I finally snapped and killed someone. It’s not like I can get in any more trouble that I’m already in,” Matt reasoned, but it wasn’t the killing part that hit Shiro.

“Hold on,” he said, “did you just say ‘Saldana’? As in Akira Saldana, _the Lord of Ruin?_ ”

“Yep,” said Matt. “Who else? He’s a really great guy, actually. Sometimes a bit obnoxious, but more down to earth that you might think.”

Shiro couldn’t help but quickly check their surroundings. Matt only laughed at him: “Don’t worry, he doesn’t care about stuff like that. They won’t kick you out just for saying things. Besides, this whole area is very lightly monitored, if you catch my drift.”

 **That, of course, does not mean you can just say whatever you wish. But they can’t listen to us in here,** boomed Matt’s voice in Shiro’s mind suddenly.

“Of course, I completely understand.”

“So, how’s Allura?” asked Matt, aloud, while he also sent over: **We need to hurry, we don’t have much time. I will later bring you a data stick with everything I managed to uncover about… Oh man, it’s all so complicated that I don’t even know where to begin.**

“She’s fine. Recovering as expected,” said Shiro. **Can you give me at least a small idea of what is happening?**

“Changing her crew so suddenly must’ve been hard. How is her new one doing?” asked Matt. **It’s a huge conspiracy, Shiro.** **_They_ ** **knew something, so now they are gone. I think I know what** **_it_ ** **was, but I’m not sure. It needs to be checked out, but I can’t leave this place.**

“It’s great! I haven’t met any of them in person yet, but Allura hasn’t said anything bad about any of them, yet.” **All very cryptic, as usual. But why can’t you leave? What’s wrong?**

“ _Yet,_ huh? I see you don’t have the best expectations.” **The Confederation Navy knows that I’m still hiding something. And yet, because I am here, they can’t get to me. The Lord of Ruin protects us, and they can’t afford to anger him. But if I leave, I lose that protection.**

“Maybe so. But hey, it’s not like we have the best experience with starship crews, right?” Shiro replied, lightly chuckling. **Then I will go myself. Just give me the location.**

“Yeah, it totally sucks.” **It will be included on the stick. But be careful. The Navy probably already knows about your visit, and they will be upon you as soon as you leave the system.** “Hey, who’s that guy that arrived with you?”

“Red? Oh, just a pilot that brought me here.” **Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure they won’t catch us.**

 **‘Pretty sure’ ain’t good enough, Shiro.** “He seems nice. And pretty. Interesting violet eyes. Hey! That reminds me - you still like conspiracy theories, right?” **They have blackhawks, now. Nothing official, nothing confirmed, but I’ve heard enough.**

“If my memory serves right, _you_ were the one always going on and on about weird stuff and some connections only you could see,” pointed out Shiro. **Blackhawks will most certainly pose a problem, that’s for sure. Nevertheless, I am still pretty confident that we will be able to escape. It’s a long story, but the kid is great.**

“ _Anyhow!_ So, this is completely crazy, but it also kinda makes sense? You know, looking from another point and… So! The thing is; the current Lord of Ruin? _He isn’t the real one_ ,” stage-whispered Matt, winking at Shiro. **Good, because if they do catch you, they probably won’t hesitate to shoot. The thing, the secret project is** **_so_ ** **important to them that they are totally prepared to kill for it. And the thing itself can kill you too, so be careful.**

Shiro faked a gasp: “No way!” **So I guess this means that my employment with the Navy is over? Ugh, Coran won’t be happy.**

 **Is that really the thing you focused on? Shiro, we are talking about something so big, that they are willing to do** **_anything_ ** **to keep it silent and a secret.** “Oh shut up. Anyhow, apparently about a year after the birth of the current Lord, he disappeared from all public broadcasts and such. There were no pictures, no soundbites, nothing. If it weren’t for the habitat’s personality’s assurances, everyone would’ve thought that he was dead. But! A year later, he appears, safe and sound, back in public’s eye. No explanation given. Nobody knows what happened. Isn’t that weird?”

“Kind of, yes.” **I understand, Matt. I will do my best to confirm whatever suspicions you might have, and not get captured by the Navy.**

“So here is the theory - the real Lord was killed. I don’t know why or how, but he was. And Tranquility didn’t want anyone to know that that was possible, so it created another kid, that looked exactly the same as the original. It grew him, and when he was old enough, presented him to the masses as the original. And bam! Nobody any idea what really happened, and it saved its face - er, integrity. See? It’s totally possible!” **Easier said than done.**

“Of course, Matt. Everything you’ve just said. Makes perfect sense,” Shiro said, nodding solemnly. **We’ll see.**

Then Matt suddenly reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small cube, staring at it intently: “Well, I am afraid I have to go.” **Fuck, the patrols are coming over. You should go before they arrive.**

Shiro stood up as well, still smiling, but now it even looked forced. “That’s a shame. So, catch you later?” **The patrols…? Matt, what’s happening? I thought you said you were safe!** **_Matt_** **!**

“Probably not, we _are_ pretty busy here, y’know,” Matt said, already turning away, giving Shiro a quick wave. **_I_ ** **am perfectly safe, but you aren't. Now go! Find Red, and leave. The data stick will be waiting for you by your ship. Good luck.**

And with that, the bond was severed. Shiro was left standing in the middle of an unknown part of the research facility, with a lot more information in his head that he had any use for or cared about, and _many_ more new questions.

But at least he knew that Matt was more or less safe. And apparently neck deep in some pretty serious stuff, as it was apparent from the whole encounter. _But what did he mean by that last part?_

Shiro didn’t want to linger and find out by accident, so he called up the mental map. He had to get to Keith. They had to leave, _quickly._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting new people always goes bad for Keith. This is no exception.

Despite the fact that Tranquility was one of the most popular and frequently visited habitats outside of the Solar system, Keith was almost alone, walking through desolate white hallways. Not that he was paying much attention to his surroundings anyway, to notice the beautiful shapes and pictures that twirling shadows made on the walls.

His mind was completely occupied by Shiro, focused on that _asshole_ , _moron_ , and an exemplarily good officer of the Confederation Navy. Who was also apparently incredibly smart (besides being incredibly good looking, of course), and who Keith knew almost nothing about.

Shiro was a total enigma. On one side, he played the role of a perfect CNIS officer, who kept trying to arrest Keith and was seemingly one of the most innocent people ever that Keith had had the pleasure of meeting. But on the other side he had no qualms about blackmailing and forcing Keith to help him do something potentially quite illegal and clearly against Navy’s orders.

Keith was certain that Red knew something more about him, but it wasn’t telling. He wasn’t going to press it, because it probably had a good reason for that. Besides, he trusted it with his life.

And so he was able to focus completely on Shiro, at all the anger that he held for him, mostly for being forced to face unknown dangers. He hated being kept in the dark. Furthermore, he had better things to do than play a taxi driver. Better, much more _important_ things. Things that should not be left alone.

He entertained the thought of running off for a moment, but quickly discarded it. Shiro had probably already asked the habitat to keep an eye on him, and escaping Tranquility would be quite hard. Besides, if his whole sob story came out, a lot more people would suddenly be on his tail.

So he resigned himself to wait for Shiro and then giving him a lift off the habitat. But then what? There was a high possibility that Shiro would demand to be flown somewhere else, and then make Keith wait for him there and so on and on and on…

 **This whole thing was a mistake,** he told _Aryeh._ **Why won’t you allow me to dispose of him?**

 _Aryeh_ didn’t answer directly, but the displeasure it sent over the bond was strong enough that he dropped the idea.

Damn it, there was really no way to win this.

He kicked the floor petulantly, scowling. Nothing was going quite the way he wanted it to go. In most cases, it was very far away from his ideal, actually.

A loud sigh followed that thought. _Shiro._ Why was the man so… so… _brilliant_ and so nice but also so very _cold?_ Holy shit, was he getting _attached?_ It must’ve really been awhile since he’d last spent such a long time in someone’s company, if he was already getting attached to a fucking Navy officer.

He turned left the next hallway, not really knowing where he was going. Well, Shiro did say that he would find him when he needed him, so it didn’t really matter if he got lost.

What mattered now was figuring out a way to get rid of Shiro _without_ doing something that would piss off _Aryeh._ The ship sulked like a pro.

“And who might you be, sweetheart?” someone drawled from behind him, startling him and pulling him back into the real world, away from _Shiro_.

He whirled around, his right hand automatically going to the hilt of his dagger, prepared to face anyone stupid enough to stop him.

The man behind him definitely surprised Keith a great deal. He was taller than Keith, but it was probably just the high heels that he was wearing. His pale skin was almost the same colour as the white wall on which he was leaning, completely relaxed. His long black hair was thrown over his shoulder in a long braid, adorned with small crystals that gleamed in the bright light. There were more covering his chest and decorating the long skirt with a very high cut, displaying his toned legs.

Keith would’ve thought that the man was just some high-class prostitute if it weren’t for the brilliantly violet eyes staring right at him, full of some unidentifiable emotion.

That quickly helped him realize who he was looking at, as the face in front of him belonged to only one of the most important people alive.

The Lord of Ruin himself, in flesh, was right there, and Keith was at a loss. Was he supposed to address him a certain way? Bow? Comment on how pretty he looked? He had some faint memories of Rubra teaching him how to talk to foreign dignitaries, but nothing was ever said about the proper protocol in case of meeting the infamous Lord of Ruin himself. As Valisk hated Tranquility with a passion, that particular meeting had never been even considered, much less prepared for.

“Hello,” he carefully said, taking his hand off the knife and even offering the Lord a smile.

The Lord pushed himself off the wall, approaching Keith with slow, leisured strides, his hand playing with his braid. “I believe I asked for a name," he said, his voice not too deep, pretty gentle.

 _Damn it, what was happening right now?_ “It’s Red, my Lord,” he responded in a quiet voice, remembering in the last second the fake names that Shiro gave them.

“Red, huh? That’s a pretty name. And don't say ‘my Lord’, it’s just Akira,” the Lord winked at him.

“Of course, Mr. Akira,” replied Keith.

The Lord then gave him an obvious once-over, grinning happily at something that he found satisfying on him, then offer him his hand: “Walk with me.”

It sounded like an offer, but it was clearly an order. And standing on board the habitat that was in complete control of the guy issuing said order, Keith found himself complying with it without hesitation.

They hadn’t even made it out of the hallway when the Lord turned to him, an eager expression on his face, and asked: “So, _Red,_ what brings you out here?”

There was a weird emphasis on his name in the Lord’s voice that he didn’t want to think about, so he settled for picking the most believable lie he could come up with on the spot.

“A friend of mine has a colleague here, so we came to visit.” There. Simple and short.

“A _friend_ , huh? Well, he can not be a very good friend if he left you here, all alone,” murmured the Lord, pulling him closer. “Of course, you do not have to worry about that now that I’m here.”

“That’s…extremely nice of you, Mr. Akira.” If it weren’t for the fact that the guy was the Lord of Ruin, Keith would’ve run away by now. Yes, he was extremely attractive and powerful, but he was also creepy, had the worst pickup lines, and reminded Keith too much of Rubra. And those were memories he wanted to leave _buried._

But how to tell a king to fuck off?

 **Not using that precise phrase might just be point one,**  suddenly said _Aryeh,_ butting in on the conversation.

 **Holy shit! Where were you?** he immediately asked, careful keeping the shock from shoving on his face.

 **I was…** **_busy,_ ** _Aryeh_ replied, sounding a bit off. **Anyhow, don’t antagonize him. It would be entirely in his right to kill you if you manage to seriously displease him.**

 **Is everything alright with you?** he asked. If Red was actually in serious distress he should’ve been able to feel it, so it was probably some personal problem.

**Everything is alright, yes. Now, please focus on the Lord. Pay him attention, listen to what he has to say, but respond… Well, respond like you usually do.**

**What does that mean?** He inquired, already half knowing the answer from the sudden smugness radiating from _Aryeh_.

**Short responses, sometimes just a single syllable - maybe a grunt! That would be good! See? Nothing out of the ordinary. This will soon show him that you are polite, but uninterested. Without seriously offending him.**

**I am not that bad of a conversationalist!** he protested.

 **Not with Shiro, that’s for sure,** mused _Aryeh_.

 **Do shut up, I’m trying to** **_concentrate_ ** **here** ** _,_ ** he snapped back, then stopped listening to it, fully focusing back on the Lord next to him.

The entire conversation had taken only a few second of real time, so Keith hoped that the Lord hadn’t noticed anything amiss.

Luckily, the Lord seemed to be completely focused on the path they were taking, that was now slowly leading them _somewhere_. Keith had no real clue about the layout of the habitat, so he didn’t know if the increasing appearances of green spaces around them was a good or bad thing. They traveled in silence, still hand in hand. The buildings surrounding them were slowly getting less and less imposing as well, now looking even more graceful and sleek, a complete opposite to the architectural design he was used to on Valisk. There were even some animals running and flying around, too fast for Keith to catch a proper look. Servants were moving all around them, their white bodies helping them blend into the background as they took care of the living landscape.

The Lord apparently noticed his starring, as he smiled and said, breaking the silence: “Yes, it is quite beautiful here. We may not live in a natural living habitat, but that does not mean that we can not afford its beauty.”

“That’s… sweet,” said Keith carefully.

The Lord looked unimpressed at his choice of words: “Of course it is.”

Then he whirled around, the skirt flailing in the air, and pulled Keith after him: “But I believe I have kept you long enough. Your _friend_ is looking for you, quite agitated that you have wandered so far away.”

There was it again, a strange infliction on the word ‘friend’ that Keith didn’t recognize the significance of.

“Wait,” he suddenly asked, “how do you know how he is feeling?”

“Oh, Tranquility told me. Apparently he snapped pretty badly at the subsystem assisting him. That was not very polite, believe me,” the Lord sighed.

 _But why would you care?_ wondered Keith, and then, _surely he cannot read my mind?_

 **That’s paranoia talking,** gently reminded him _Aryeh._

 **Asshole,** he said back, because he was tired, but also because he had to snap at _somebody_ , and right now the only alternative was the Lord, and _that_ would not end well.

* * *

While Shiro might have told Keith that he could do whatever he wanted in the meantime, that did not mean that he was allowed to wander as far away as he could, onto the _private property of the Lord of Ruin_ of all blasted things. Fuck, this was bad.

He could swear he could almost feel the subsystem quietly judging him, but he was quite anxious. Matt’s last words (not exactly _last words_ because that would be way too pessimistic even for him) were still a mystery. The whole thing with Matt was a mystery, and finally seeing him again after a year hadn’t solved as many problems as Shiro had anticipated. But he did have a new goal in mind, a new purpose, and that was good enough for now.

At least, as soon as he found Keith.

That little jerk.

It wasn’t that far to the private property, considering that this was only a habitat and not a planet. Yet Shiro felt like each step he took only brought him closer to some hidden danger, someone waiting to ambush him or simply an innocent passerby that would recognize him and relay that information to the CNIS. Either one of those things would end rather unpleasantly for him. For them both.

So it was with quite a bit of anger in him that he now stopped right before two white sentries, which blocked the entrance to a very green, very beautiful park, which was also the exact current location of one and only Keith. Damn.

“This is the Lord’s private property. You cannot enter,” the sentries told him in a monotone voice.

He sighed. “Look,” he started, “I don’t need to go there, but could you just bring- er, escort someone here? He’s in the park, and his name is…”

He trailed off as his eyes registered some movement behind the sentries, and he craned his head to take a better look.

The obnoxiously red jacket was a dead giveaway, helping him identify Keith immediately. But the person he was with was a bit more of a mystery. A bit taller than Keith himself, with same dark hair but a bit longer and in a braid, their quite revealing dress covered in crystals. Their pale skin was the same shade of almost white as Keith’s, and Shiro couldn’t tell their entwined hands apart. Just the sight of them together made Shiro feel strange, _bad_ strange, and that was before he recognized the other individual.

The Lord of Ruin himself was walking alongside Keith, his dark violet eyes focused onto Shiro’s. And oh, were those not familiar? Shiro didn’t risk breaking the apparent stare contest just to check, but he was sure that Keith’s looked just like those of the Lord. And that was a dangerous thought.

“Stand down,” said the Lord, sentries immediately obeying him. Shiro knew that the Lord had affinity bonds with every being on the habitat, so the spoken commands were obviously just a show of strength, a reminder how everything around them was under his command.

And as a show of strength, it was definitely working.

“Your Highness!” Shiro exclaimed and bowed, quietly debating if he should kneel as well.

“Your Honour is good enough, Ryou,” said the Lord. “Now, I believe I have something of yours?”

Keith looked like he wanted to kill the Lord for that, and Shiro almost facepalmed. Yep, this was going great.

“Thank you, your Honour,” Shiro quietly said, “we will be leaving as soon as possible.”

“There’s no need for that,” smiled the Lord. “I quite enjoyed our little talk.”

Keith now looked like he just ate something spoiled.

“But I am afraid that duty calls. I must leave now.”

At that, the Lord turned on his heel and marched away, without a proper goodbye or even a short wave. Shiro watched him leave, the sentries back to blocking his way, Keith quiet at his side.

Then Keith sucked in a sharp breath, panic evident across his face.

Shiro turned to him: “Is everything okay?”

And then the alarms started blaring.

* * *

_"Tranquility is under temporal lockdown. You cannot leave Tranquility. Tranquility is under temporal lockdown. You cannot leave Tranquility.”_

The same ominous message was plastered everywhere, broadcasted from every speaker and screen. Even over all affinity networks the same message was loudly blaring. Shiro had checked.

“Fuck,” quietly mumbled Keith.

Shiro had to agree with the statement.

“Do you think it’s because of one of us?” then asked Keith.

“Nah, we’re not important enough for them to lock down an entire habitat, much less Tranquility itself. It’s something else, something _big._ ”

“That doesn’t assure me in the slightest,” mumbled Keith.

“It wasn’t supposed to. We should worry about whatever is happening right now.” Despite the calm appearance he tried to project, Shiro’s mind was in turbulence. This whole thing was suspiciously close to their arrival here for it to be a complete coincidence. He really hoped they weren’t here for whatever thing Matt was now a part of.

Tranquility itself wasn’t offering any additional information besides the warning, which was telling enough.

This was very bad.

“So we’re stuck here, for an unknown period of time. It could be days!”

There was some barely concealed hysteria in Keith’s voice, but Shiro didn’t point it out. Keith raised a valid point after all. They didn’t really know how long the lockdown would last, and it could be for quite a while. That would pose a serious problem with-

“Where will you sleep?”

-that.

“I know that your ship is tiny, but is it really _that_ tiny?” asked Shiro, and Keith immediately took a step back: “Waw, rude. And that’s coming from _both_ of us. _Aryeh_ says to tell you that it’s perfectly adequate in size, and that it’s just you who’s too big.”

“Tell your ship to shut up. No, but seriously. Where am I going to sleep? And if we stay longer, we risk someone recognizing either one of us, and that would mean serious trouble,” reasoned Shiro.

“That’s true, but the ship can’t just grow you something to sleep on. This isn’t science fiction,” said Keith, still apparently a bit angry about that dig about the size of his ship.

“We could go to a hotel if I had some money with me that isn’t directly tied to my… job,” Shiro finished quietly, suddenly realizing that they were still being monitored by the habitat. That they were monitored at all times. He couldn’t just go spewing around risky stuff like that.

“Well, I most certainly don’t have enough credits to afford a night in a habitat like this. And hey, maybe the lockdown will last only a few hours anyway,” tried to reassure him Keith, and obviously prove that he wasn’t sulking anymore.

“Nah, I know these things. If they don’t find whoever or whatever they are looking for inside the first hour, it takes them around a week to do it,” Shiro replied.

“So you think this is Confederation Navy?” asked Keith. “That… That would be _bad_.”

“No shit,” snorted Shiro. That was probably one of the biggest understatements he had heard in awhile. “I mean, who else could it be? Something bad had happened in the habitat, so they called the Navy for help. And it had to be really bad for Tranquility to be unable to solve the problem by itself.”

“But maybe it isn’t the Navy,” distractedly murmured Keith. “I mean, wouldn’t the habitat then announce their presence? Why would it hide that?”

“People here are just like you, Keith. They don’t really appreciate the Navy, and the fact that Tranquility seldom works with them is one of its biggest advantages.”

“Wouldn’t not knowing what is happening make them _more_ scared and suspicious than just knowing it was the Navy?” asked Keith.

“Not really,” Shiro said. “They trust Tranquility to not actively work against them, more or less. It would be bad for business.”

“Yeah, dead people can’t spend money, I know. So what are we going to do?”

Shiro looked around them briefly, then shrugged: “We will see. Let’s wait a few hours and hope for the best.”

“Like that ever works,” grumbled Keith, but didn’t protest further.

That was totally a win for Shiro.

* * *

They stayed.

The sentries still blocking their way, amidst the confusion that the emergency lockdown had caused, they stayed, staring at each other, and wondering what the fuck were they supposed to be doing.

Well, at least Keith was. Shiro was probably strategizing in his head, drawing up possible escape plans and whatnot.

Instead, Keith focused on something else.

 **Red!** he yelled, to gain its attention faster. **Is everything okay?**

 **I don’t know,** said _Aryeh._ **All of the ships outside of the habitat have…** **_dispersed_** **. Either with jumping away or moving further out, there are no more ships left in the immediate vicinity of the habitat. And because of the shields, I can’t see what’s going on.**

 **Damn it!** he said.

 **That, yes, but Keith - you could be in real danger. Come back here!** said _Aryeh._

 **What good would that do? We are under lockdown, we can’t** **_leave._ **

**_Well…_ **

**I know you could potentially blast the bay doors open and get out that way, but we are not doing that. Tell me, did any Navy ships dock just before lockdown?**

**I am not entirely sure, as I don’t have access to that kind of information,** _Aryeh_ replied _,_ **but no docked ships are broadcasting loudly that they are with Confederation, which means that even if there are Confederation ships here, they are here in secret.**

 **That can’t be good,** Keith said, competing for the understatement of the year challenge.

 **_Of course it isn’t,_ ** **that’s why I told you to get back here, you idiot,** _Aryeh_ snapped, worry clear in its voice.

 **Thanks for the compliment,** he huffed.

 **At this point I feel like I will have more luck talking to Shiro,** _Aryeh_ said. **Hmm.**

That, of course, provoked an immediate and visible reaction from Keith. **Don’t you dare!** he snapped. **_Aryeh!_ **

**Oh, you used my actual name. It’s nice to hear that you still remember it.** It was unamused.

 **Fuck off,** he replied.

**So I take it you are not coming, huh.**

**No! Shut up! Don’t contact Shiro! Bye!**

And with that, he snapped the bond shut, banning its voice from his head. At least for now. He could still feel its emotions dripping over, the smugness barely covering its uneasiness, that in turn made Keith’s stomach feel weird, his heart suddenly beating faster for no clear reason.

He plopped onto the floor, with his head in his hands the picture of misery.

“We could’ve at least picked a less… open space, you know, for us to stake out on,” he said.

Shiro looked puzzled for a moment: “This isn’t a… _Why_ would this be a stake out? Who are we waiting for?”

“For your imaginary Navy soldiers, I guess,” Keith said. “Were you seriously planning on just waiting for them here?”

“Of course not,” Shiro said, too defensively to be anything other than a clear lie.

Keith rolled his eyes. He really didn't care.

“And they aren’t imaginary. I’m telling you, they are here on a hunt for someone!”

“Alright. Then what are we going to do _when_ they find us? I’ll be recognized instantly, and you a few seconds later!”

Shiro scratched the back of his head: “Well, we could-”

_Panichurthurtworrynoticepanicpanic--_

Whatever was Shiro about to say next was lost to Keith, as suddenly an extremely strong feeling of something very akin to primal fear came over him. The agony of it almost threw him to his knees, his heart beating so rapidly he thought it was about to give out. And amidst all of that terror, he felt a strong pull that almost wanted to physically move him somewhere.

At that moment, he did not possess willpower to resist it.

“- _okay?_ Answer me!”

Shiro was holding him by his shoulders, gently shaking him. It looked like he was seconds from slapping him across the face to bring him out of whatever _the hell_ that just was.

“What just happened?” Shiro asked him, all worried.

Keith shrugged: “I don’t know.”

There was still this urge to _help_ someone, to save them from something, and…

He took off running.

* * *

Seeing Keith go from a panic attack to sprinting across the park was doing weird things to Shiro. Of course he followed immediately, surprised that the sentries didn’t pursue them as they rushed straight across the meadows, and trying to quell panic in him that was threatening to overwhelm him. It couldn’t, not right now, not when he was so worried about Keith.

That worry for Keith only intensified when they arrived at the scene, Keith’s obvious target.

And it was _messy._

Two sentries were already lying on the floor, sparkling, clearly out of commission. Next to them, or rather _over_ and _under_ them, were lying two humanoid bodies, dressed in dark blue with azure highlights, their blood staining the floor. Above them, four remaining figures were still fighting, dodging blasts and firing back at the sole victim.

Keith hadn't even stopped and asserted the situation properly before he had already flung himself into combat, taking on the nearest combatant with his glowing blade that he unsheathed during his run here.

Shiro, who was unarmed, firstly tore a spear from one of the downed sentries, and followed Keith, attacking the next combatant who had a sword in one of their hands and a blaster in the other.

They were good, Shiro discovered when the combatant nearly shot him in the head, but he was _better._ They weren’t that well trained, and while their gear was pretty impressive, they were anything but. The sentry’s spear helped.

He had the combatant on the floor in a matter of minutes, with only a slight burn on the back of his left hand and some new bruises.

Keith’s opponent was on the floor as well, bleeding from numerous stab wounds. Keith himself was in the middle of knocking out the last attacker, and as their body hit the floor, the silence reigned over them.

“Thank you,” said now the victim in an unpleasantly familiar voice. Shiro turned around to face him, the spear still clutched in his right hand.

The Lord of Ruin gave him a cold smile, and brushed the hair off his face. “I believe you just saved my life.”

Shiro was about to tell him it was no real problem on their part, but Keith was already striding forward, stopping right in front of the Lord: “You’re welcome, then. And,” he started, sheathing his blade only so that he could cross his arms and stare into the Lord’s eyes: “I believe you now owe us something.”

 _What the fuck was Keith doing?_ Shiro almost jumped forwards and physically grabbed him to stop whatever stupid thing Keith was attempting to do, but Lord’s amused expression stopped him.

“And what would that be?” the Lord questioned, with his head tilted to indicate how not serious the entire thing seemed to him.

“What is happening right now? The lockdown? What’s going on? _Tell us!”_

The Lord chuckled, an unpleasant and grating sound, and said: “Are you seriously trying to _force me_ into giving you information? Give up, kid, before something serious happens.”

“You don’t get to call me kid, you’re younger than me,” snapped Keith.

That was clearly a mistake.

The Lord moved faster than Shiro’s eyes could even hope to follow, and had Keith pushed against the wall, one of his hands wrapped around his neck, and the other pointing a blaster at Shiro in a heartbeat.

“Don’t move,” he hissed, then turned back to Keith: “That goes for you, too. Who do you think you are, trying to order _me_ around? Do not you forget where you are! This is Tranquility, _my_ kingdom. My word is the law, and no dirty fugitive, no _trash_ like you can ever hope of undermining my authority!”

Keith’s mouth was wide open as he gagged, unable to breathe properly.

The Lord looked over his shoulder, back at Shiro: “And you, soldier!” That shocked Shiro. Fuck, the Lord obviously knew who they were. “Your good friend is in one of my research facilities, is he not? Let’s see how high you value his life. Do not resist.”

“Stay away from Matt!” yelled Shiro, just barely holding back from activating his arm. No, they didn’t know about it yet. He couldn’t reveal it, it wasn’t the time.

“Did you two _really_ think you managed to fool either me or Tranquility for even a second? You are even more foolish that I was led to believe!”

Keith had finally stopped clawing at the Lord’s hand, and instead opened his mouth to speak. But nothing came out at first, as he rasped for air.

“Do you-” was followed by another unpleasant rasp, “my… my ship…”

The Lord loosened his grip, minimally, but that allowed Keith to gasp for air easier.

“My ship will self-destruct if you kill us,” he finally managed to rasp out.

“So it loves you that much? That’s interesting, blackhawks usually aren’t _that_ attached to their captains,” the Lord said, and finally let Keith drop to the ground.

He also removed the blaster and pushed it back into its holster, allowing Shiro to dash to Keith’s prone form on the floor.

“It’s not like I was planning on killing you anyway,” the Lord said. “But I also cannot just let you go, not after _that.”_

He sighed. “Come with me. Do not speak or touch anything, and follow me.” He turned on his heel, the braid flailing behind him as he prepared to lead the way.

Shiro and Keith exchanged a surprised look.

“It’s not like we have many options,” said Keith.

Shiro took a deep breath: “Okay then,” he said. “Let’s follow.”

* * *

 **Are you alright?** asked him _Aryeh._ **I could feel that, you know.**

 **I’m fine,** he assured it. **But what** **_was_ ** **that? That fear, that panic… Those weren’t** **_my_ ** **emotions.**

 **I’m sorry,** said _Aryeh_ , **I didn’t feel anything before. I really have no idea what happened. But let’s save that for later. You need an escape plan,** **_pronto._ **

**Yeah, that’s not happening,** Keith said, and glanced at the army of sentries surrounding him and Shiro, escorting them somewhere.

It wasn’t exactly an army, but their numbers were high enough to not matter if they were an army or not. It was _bad._

 **There are multiple sentries in the docking area as well,** said _Aryeh._ **It is very probable they are here to prevent your escape via me.**

 **We will just have to see how this plays out,** guessed Keith. **And hope that luck is on our side for once.**

 **That’s what worries me,** grumbled _Aryeh._

He rolled his eyes and focused back onto his immediate surroundings. _This was very bad indeed._

* * *

The room they were escorted into looked more like a part of a living habitat than a prison cell. White walls with big screens instead of windows, which displayed swirling stars and slowly moving comets, were adorned with flowers of every colour imaginable. The white desk that stood in the middle of the room was surrounded by numerous sofas, couches and chairs in different shades of pink and yellow, giving the room a very vibrant look.

The Lord dismissed the sentries with a flick of his hand, and settled on a pink sofa next to the white desk. He pointedly looked at Shiro and Keith, and indicated that he wanted them sitting in front of him, on the soft yellow couch.

Vary of some ulterior motives, they only slowly approached the couch and sat on him after some moments of careful consideration.

It was very soft.

“Well then!” the Lord said and clasped his hands together: “Now that we are far away from any prying eyes, let us begin!”

He sounded almost cheerful, and they couldn’t help but exchange a confused look at the sudden change.

The Lord, of course, noticed it.

“What,” he asked, “did you seriously think that that was how I behave all the time? Please, if I threatened everyone who dared to talk back to me, I would not get anything done beside a sore throat!”

He chuckled to himself, sharing some inside joke with Tranquility perhaps.

“There were people listening. They always are, outside. Those attackers had transmitters in their suits as well, and everything in their proximity was being monitored.”

“So you almost crushing Keith’s windpipe was just for show?” hissed Shiro.

“No, that particular moment was not. I do not allow such obvious disrespect,” said the Lord, his voice cold again.

That did not make Shiro like him more.

“Then why did you even bring us here?” asked him Keith. “Your authority is absolute, you don’t need to abide by any morals or similar social constructs.”

“If that is your polite and roundabout way of asking why are you not dead yet, then, well.” The Lord tapped his chin with his long fingers, indicating that he was thinking hard about it. Or was maybe just making jokes on their account with Tranquility. Either way, they had no way to tell what was going on in his head.

“Is it not a bit perilous for you to be asking that?” he suddenly said, looking straight at Keith. “I mean, you are still here, completely at my mercy. Provoking me with such inconsequential questions could very well mean your demise.”

“And so what?” replied Keith. “Like sitting here, completely uninformed and without any clue what’s about to happen to us is so much better.”

Shiro tried not to shudder. This was not going well. He gently reached over to Keith, and laid his hand on his knee to try calming him.

“Calm down,” he whispered. “Let me handle this.”

Against all expectations Keith relented and slumped back on the couch, petulantly crossing his arms and still glaring at the Lord.

“How peculiar,” murmured the Lord, and then focused on Shiro. “Well then, what do you want?”

“You know who I am, don’t you,” said Shiro. It wasn’t a question.

“Well of course! A Navy soldier, a CNIS officers… You almost make a decent spy,” said the Lord.

“Not that. I mean, you know exactly _who_ I am.” He put emphasis on that, enunciating the words quite clearly, and the Lord responded as expected, starting with a small glimmer in his eyes.

“Ah, so that’s what you mean,” he said.

Shiro could feel Keith’s gaze on him, but he didn’t dare turn away from the Lord’s piercing eyes.

“Yes,” he simply said, and went quiet.

“Shirogane Takashi, a member of one of the Hundred families of Eden, who already commanded Navy forces at the tender age of 22, winning some of the key battles at Earth’s O’Neill Halo. You are one of the most awarded young officers and your strategic prowess is known throughout the Confederation.”

At the end of that little declaration, the Lord was leaning forwards, his head supported by his right hand, while he swirled his left lazily around. Shiro had gone painfully rigid, fully aware of Keith’s eyes on his form.

“And yet!” the Lord said, “you are not the head of your family, no, your _sister_ is, isn’t she? You’ve been practically disowned because of the pursuit of your military career, have you not? This also makes you particularly desirable for any agency not affiliated with Edenists, because of your, shall we say, _special_ abilities.”

“So what do you want?” now asked Shiro. “You wouldn’t go through all this trouble if you weren’t after something.”

“Maybe.” A short pause. “Well alright. Yes I am! How would you like to help me with a little something?”

“What’s in it for us?” asked Keith.

“I will not kill you in the next second,” coldly smiled the Lord. “Like it is entirely in my right to do.”

“Fuck you,” sneered Keith, but Shiro gently nudged him, and he turned away.

“I can help you, yes. But why should I?” Shiro now asked.

“We will owe you _something_. We will see later, what exactly,” the Lord lazily said.

“You mean like you already do? From where we saved your life? Half an hour ago!” snapped Keith.

“Alright, alright. Guaranteed safe passage off Tranquility and continued support of your dear friend?”

“Not enough. This problem must be an exceptionally bad one if you are willing to seek outside help. That simply isn’t enough.”

The Lord tilted his head, indicating his interest: “Then name your price.”

“A battle fleet.”

A small, surprised gasp escaped Keith at Shiro's demand. The Lord only chuckled.

“That is an impressive demand. I would, but I currently don’t have enough blackhawks stationed here to even think about sending any away.”

“How many can you spare?” asked Shiro.

“Zero,” said the Lord.

“I sincerely doubt that,” said Shiro.

“It’s the truth. And as soon as I disclose our current situation - the reason for lockdown - to you, you will see the reason for that.”

Shiro closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his left hand. “Alright, then give us all the intel you posses on Confederation Navy’s movements in…”

His next words were lost as the whole room flashed bright blue, and the Lord jumped onto his feet.

“We will argue about that later! We need a strategy, _now._ ” His voice was strained with urgency and underlined with worry.

Shiro sighed. He couldn’t resist obviously distressed people.

“Show us the problem,” he said, “and do not forget your promise.”

The Lord turned to him with an innocent ‘who, me?’ grin on his face, then snapped his fingers.

The whole room plunged into darkness as a holographic display sprung into life in front of them, above the desk, illuminating their pale faces. In the middle of it, a big yellow dot that on closer look resembled Tranquility quite well, was representing the habitat. Multiple smaller yellow specks around it were clearly smaller ships. The planets, between which the habitat slowly orbited the system’s sun, were in their natural colours quite recognizable.

“So! An unknown ship entered the Tranquility system at 13:09:47 yesterday.”

On the hologram in front of them a small yellow ship suddenly appeared and started slowly moving towards the bright red habitat.

“The subsystem, responsible for supervising the surrounding space around the habitat took notice of this. As the ship did not attempt to hail the habitat by 13:10:19, the subsystem attempted to identify the ship. The ship’s records came up completely normal, so the subsystem alerted Tranquility’s main personality.”

“Hold on,” said Keith, pausing the explanation: “You thought it was suspicious that it was a completely _normal_ ship?”

“Honey,” smiled the Lord ever too sweetly, “No one totally _normal_ comes here. Ah! As I was saying, Tranquility was then alerted. It tried to contact the ship at 13:10:22, but the ship did not respond.”

Now the ship turned blue on the screen, and many more dots around the red habitat turned on, yellow in colour.

“At that point, the ship was close to our outermost defensive system, a small strategic-defense network consisting of around 50 SD platforms.”

The network, consisting of small and scattered red lights on a reasonable distance from the habitat all around it, blinked twice.

“Now, Tranquility itself still isn’t really sure what happened, but the ship _somehow_ managed to seize the control of the defense network at 13:10:24.”

The scattered red lights now turned the same shade of blue as the ship.

“At this point Tranquility immediately designated this as a level 1 emergency situation, initiated a habitat wide lockdown and contacted me. At the same time it moved all emergence zones further away, out of the reach of the weaponry of the overtaken SD network.”

The zones, previously coloured in light grey, big circles around the habitat, designating the place in which the ships were supposed to create wormholes to jump away or into the system, now disappeared and showed up again much further away, beyond the single blue foreign ship that started it all.

“At 13:10:25 Tranquility started waking up the rest of our defences, and it started refusing the PTAs, asking all ships not already at the habitat to move further away or to simply jump out of the system.”

All of the flickering yellow lights that were before clustered around the habitat, started quickly disappearing one by one. Some just flickered out, some moved to the new grey zones, and the closest to the habitat. Soon there were no more yellow lights left between the habitat and the now blue defense network.

“Tranquility had all defensive systems operational at 13:11:43.”

A big number of red lights turned on all around the habitat, much more clustered than the now blue SD network.

“The solar system was completely cleared at 13:12:58, when even the last ship had jumped away or moved to the newly designated emergence zones. The ships in those zones were asked to create big distortion fields around them, to prevent any additional enemy reinforcements jumping into the system. The blue SD network came online at 13:13:05. The fact that it was a foreign system, still fighting, probably slowed the foreign ship and the whole process.”

The blue lights flashed once for emphasis.

“Tranquility now started asking _all_ ships to abandon the system. At 13:13:07, with my approval, the Confederation and the Kulu Kingdom were informed of our predicament and asked to stay away and carefully supervise their own systems until the problem is resolved.”

Two additional symbols appeared next to Tranquility’s, the white overlapping ellipsoids surrounded with green stars symbolizing the Confederation, and a yellow and blue jewel for the Kulu Kingdom.

“As the foreign ship started approaching the nearest platform at 13:13:09,” the Lord said, and the foreign ship started towards the nearest blue dot, “Tranquility immediately targeted _all_ overtaken platforms and, using other defense networks, started destroying them. The ship ordered the network to start firing back at 13:13:10, at which point a good half of it had already been destroyed. The ship then turned around,” he gestured to the hologram, and the ship did indeed turn around, amidst all the blue lights now blinking out of existence, “and moved out of the range of our weaponry, parking itself just in front of one of the emergence zones, at 13:13:24. All compromised SD platforms had, at that point, been destroyed, and we sustained minimal losses. No casualties, of course.”

The display changed to accommodate the new information.

“You said before that you’d tried to identify the ship. What exactly came up?” now asked Shiro, stepping a bit closer to study the display in front of them.

The Lord swiped with his hand past the display, and the foreign ship immediately grew in size, with a detailed display of all its systems and functions, with a diagram by the side showing additional data that now Lord read outloud: “A standard FTL ship -  an Adamist warship, to be exact - registered and piloted by some possibly nonexistent person from Earth, we are still checking out the details. Supposedly it came here from the Ta system, their latest jump taking them from Cali to Tranquility. We are also working on confirming that, but I sincerely doubt its credibility. Everything checks out on the first glance, completely. It will take some time to find the real stuff, but I wouldn’t exactly bet on finding anything of real value.”

He shook his head in anger, dismissing the display completely. “No, this was no ordinary attack. It was meticulously planned and carried out, as was the assassination attempt. _That_ happened at 13:13:17, to be precise. Six attackers who had some pretty impressive tech with them. They were able to destroy the sentries with simple affinity commands, _which was supposed to be impossible._ I am not yet sure if it was just an opportunistic thing, strike two birds with one stone and so, or  if the whole attack was meant as a distraction for the assassination, but I’m leaning towards the latest. Which is very bad, because that means we are dealing with some seriously desperate people.”

“Laton,” whispered Keith.

_And didn’t that name bring back some unpleasant memories._

“Exactly,” the Lord said. “There is a very high chance that this was indeed Laton’s doing. He has the motive and the resources for something like this. And he is also mad enough to try it. Not many other would,” he murmured.

Shiro couldn’t help but feel like there was some admiration in those words.

“Will he try again?” he asked.

“Will he? Of course, it would be impossible for him to resist. But right now? Probably not. Everyone is on extremely high alert right now, looking for more attempts on my life. They’ve lost the element of surprise. Well, they never actually had one, but… Anyhow, no,” the Lord shook his head.

Keith pondered that, for a moment: “So what we are doing right now is… _nothing?_ ”

The Lord gasped, trying to sound outraged as he spluttered: “Of course not! We are assessing the situation, picking the best possible strategy, preparing our forces… Alright, yes, we are stalling!”

“Why haven’t you authorised an attack force yet? A squadron of blackhawks could’ve surely destroyed or even just chased the ship away by now,” said Shiro.

The Lord shook his head: “We still have no idea how exactly the enemy ship took control of our systems. And until we know more about that, we cannot risk it gaining control over actual ships.”

“Yes, but a blackhawk is a lot more advanced than a SD system, no matter how complex - even the ones run by Tranquility itself.”

“I am not prepared to take that risk! No ship of mine is going to face that _thing_ if I can help it!” the Lord snarled.

“And you haven’t told the populace yet because you can’t really risk Tranquility's reputation, _can you_ ,” mused Shiro.

“Are you- does this seem amusing to you?” hissed the Lord, now stepping right into Shiro’s personal space, leaning dangerously close.

Shiro didn’t bulge, staring right back into the Lord’s eyes: “Well, you have to admit that there is some amusement found in the fact that you, a person that has almost omnipotent powers on board this habitat, is now completely depended on outsiders, because of a _single dissident?_ How could I not find that funny, or at least ironic?”

The Lord took a deep breath, and said: “That is not only cruel and unasked for, but extremely inappropriate as well. This is a time sensitive matter and-”

 _“Then fucking act like it,”_ snarled Shiro. “You’ve wasted at least a quarter of an hour trying to intimidate us, then gave us some basic information that the outside will probably receive later. If you honestly want and need our help so desperately, then give us the things that we actually require, like access for example! And stop trying diss us at any given opportunity!”

He could feel Keith tense next to him. This was a serious gamble, and as soon as he finished yelling, they were either going to get killed or get what they wanted. Either way, Shiro has had enough.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter of what is (supposed) to be something a bit longer. How long exactly i do not know. I have a couple of things already written, but I still have to pull them together into a coherent order.  
> I am not used to writing things outside a linear progression, so this is kind of new and weird for me.


End file.
